Direct Connection
by OreoBoros
Summary: A young, nomadic individual spends his afternoons sleeping by a riverbank. One day, he awakes to see that the Goddess of Planeptune decided to join him. In mere hours, he's thrown into a lifestyle that he never saw coming, and begins spending a large portion of his day around Planeptune's CPU.
1. Chapter 1

The year is 1980-something.

Monsters and demons of epic proportions cascade through the sun-bleached countrysides of our great lands and mercilessly execute anyone foolish enough to cross their paths. Our towns, cities and villages are hounded and plagued by bandits and looters who cut and slash their way through our precious stockpiles of food, clothing and building materials. The situation is dire, and in a last-ditch effort to salvage the wreckage of our dying country, the Goddess that governs our world, Lady Plutia, sets out on a radiant pilgrimage to smite those who have so wrongfully liberated us of our land, vowing to never return until every ounce of evil has been vanquished, so that the kingdom may once again experience the peace and prosperity it so rightly deserves.

...

Actually, what I had just described was most certainly _not_ happening. Not in the slightest, as a matter of fact. It was all a series of meticulously crafted half-truths that made things sound far more interesting than they actually were. Monsters were a problem, sure, but they stuck to their respective farming areas and followed set paths far away from any major settlement, so their existence was hardly a crisis. Bandits and looters aren't even problems, so that was barely a half-truth in the first place. And the 'Goddess' that governed our world wasn't much of a Goddess to begin with. She was more of a dopey, half-awake individual who made sure that our land wasn't being completely run into the ground.

But I didn't exaggerate everything. The year was certainly 1980-something, and our 'Goddess' was called 'Plutia', so you can be content with the fact that, despite the rather hyperbolic interpretation, I wasn't a complete liar. Still, many would consider our society threatened by the fact that the sole retainer of it happened to be a less-than-capable young girl, who would much rather sleep away her troubles than actually address them, and that things would be a lot easier if the reigns were handed over to someone more well-versed in political matters.

That being said, I saw no immediate problem with how Planeptune was being run. Lady Plutia was a klutz, sure, but she kept everything under control, at the very least, and I thought that was far more than I was entitled to. Many of the city's denizens were hard-working individuals who had their minds set on the future, making incredible advancements in extremely important technological doodads, like computers and games consoles. Planeptune was the furthest in the world in terms of scientific and industrial superiority, which was a rather impressive feat seeing as it was being run by Lady Plutia.

I wasn't one of those people. The insatiable pull of knowledge, although shared by the large majority of Planeptune, was something that I found no reason to participate in. Of course, I still derived pleasure from things like playing video games and collecting figurines, like every other sane individual in the city, but all in all, I was what many people would refer to as a 'freeloader'. I spent most of my days by a riverbank just outside of the city, arms crossed behind my head as the chords of nature were juxtaposed against the roar of Planeptune's industry in the distance.

I would spend hours there, alone with nothing but my thoughts, not particularly waiting on anything. Sometimes I'd throw rocks into the river. Sometimes I'd rest underneath a tree. Sometimes I'd wallow in existential chagrin. The important thing, however, was that I was occupying myself with something, for if I was spending my time unproductively, then what reason would I even have for living in Planeptune in the first place? I was keeping myself happy, and so I kept my faith in our CPU high, which was all I really needed to do.

Things changed, though. After one day, I found myself rather perturbed by the appearance of a rather interesting individual, who deemed it necessary to make herself known around the quiet riverbank. Lady Plutia was notorious for not thinking CPU work was necessary, and so seeing her wandering around Planeptune was a common sight. I wasn't aware that she often took strolls through the wilderness surrounding the city, or else I'd have took my choice of location more seriously. Imagine my surprise when I awoke from a particularly long bout of afternoon rest to see that someone else had decided rather bashfully to slip silently onto the riverbank for the same reason I found myself here so frequently.

It's often said that someone's personality can be inferred from the expressions they pull while they sleep. I could now say from the bottom of my heart that Lady Plutia, despite her narcoleptic visage, was a rather open individual, for there was nothing I didn't already know about her that I could pull from her sleeping face. Nothing bar pure bliss was inscribed upon her features as she laid so casually beside me when I awoke on that fateful afternoon. Or, at least, I imagine that was the kind of face she was pulling, for I had far more important matters to attend to, like silently experiencing a mild panic attack upon noticing that someone had so carelessly decided to plant themselves right next to me on the riverbank.

I kept my cool, though. Not out of any kind of fear, but because I didn't want to rouse what may have very well been the most important resident of Planeptune from her slumber. I admit that I could have been quieter in my rapid evacuation from the riverbank, or perhaps the inane rustling of grass was too much for the ultra-sensitive mind of the slumbering CPU to handle, for she rustled and yawned, and through the hazy limitations of panic, I saw small slits replace the rounded form of her eyelids.

I was, if anything, a man of basic respect, and I saw running away as a coward's move, so I sat my posterior straight down on the dirt and waited patiently for this oh-so innocent looking girl to awake from her nap. I had plenty of time to calm myself down while she sat up from the grass and rubbed her eyes and yawned in an adorable way. It came as no surprise that she was clad in the most ridiculous of garments, which were more fit for the bedroom than for wearing outside. It was, for some unexplainable reason, the preferred rags of our CPU.

Her hair was a horrible mess of tangled strands and overlapping swathes of hair that bounced around randomly. The chaos was, however, somewhat disguised by a rather neat braided ponytail with a short ribbon connecting it all together at the very end, giving the vague impression that she at least cared somewhat about her appearance. I made those observations in the time it took her to realise her surroundings, and take note of the fact that another individual had been stationed next to her. After another bout of staring off randomly in every direction, she pulled a quick smile and waved a half-hearted wave at me. Her eyes were great pools of magenta, whose harsh contrast defied her otherwise dopey appearance.

"Lady Plutia..." I muttered.

Our CPU may have been less devoted to her work than most people, but at the end of the day, she was still our CPU, and so I was under the impression that formalities were something that I, resident of Planeptune and member of the common rabble, had to adhere to. I wasn't sure if it was the tiredness that came after one had just woken up, but she shot me an odd look which told me that she wasn't used to being called that.

"Hiya..." She greeted, half-awake and swabbing speckled flakes of sleep from her eyes. I would have gone on to say how she sounded rather tired, but such behaviour was rather common for our CPU. I don't think I'd ever heard her speak a sentence where she didn't sound as if the pull of rest threatened to topple her at any second. Thankfully, though, she seemed perfectly capable of basic human function despite existing in such a temporal limbo of sleep deprivation.

"...What are you doing here?" I questioned, albeit cautiously. It wasn't my business if she simply wanted to catch some shut-eye in a place less crowded than the city, but I would have preferred ascertaining her reason for wanting to sleep next to me in particular. She stared curiously and blinked a few times before another dopey smile embossed itself flawlessly on her face.

"You looked so happy, sleeping there..." She explained with a slow and distinct drawl to her words. "It made me feel sleepy, so I decided to join in."

Wanting to sleep next to someone simply because 'they looked happy' was, despite it being rather creepy, a reason I was willing to accept. I suppose it would have been more accurate to say that I was honoured that someone so important had deemed me worthy to be in their presence. However, as nice as this impromptu riverbank slumber party was, there was a certain curiosity to Lady Plutia's eyes that said she was here for more than just to sate her insatiable hunger for naps.

"You look kinda sad..." She commented, placing a finger to her chin. "I'm not bothering you, right...?"

I don't think I had made any attempt at smiling up to that point, and I had only realised it when it was far too late to start. True, I was a little peeved about having my afternoon activities disrupted, but I couldn't complain if someone as important as Lady Plutia was the one doing it. I responded in a rushed way, while gesturing with my hands that it clearly wasn't the case.

"N-No, no, of course not." I said. "I'm plenty happy."

That seemed to placate her, to some unknowable extent. She smiled as brightly as someone of her narcoleptic nature could and inched herself a little closer to me. By her hand was an oversized plush doll, depicting the mascot of one of Planeptune's largest technological industries. I thought it a tad odd that someone her age would be playing with dolls, but she was the CPU, so I felt as though keeping my mouth shut was the better alternative.

"That's good..." She muttered. "You live in Planeptune, right?"

'Lived' was an interesting term to use. 'Live' in the sense that I was a registered citizen of Planeptune, and was a supporter of Lady Plutia herself. If, however, 'lived' was used in the context of 'did I own a property and / or have a place to stay in Planeptune', then I did most certainly not live in Planeptune. As a matter of fact, under that logic, I didn't particularly live anywhere. I may have mentioned previously that I was a freeloader, although I'm not quite sure I went into enough detail. I didn't own a place of my own to stay in, and I use the majority of time I spent not napping at the riverbank completing odd jobs around the city, so that I had enough credits to afford food.

"Yeah." I responded. "I do."

She clapped her hands together like a child. Every word I said seemed to brighten her smile by a considerable margin.

"It's nice to see that there are some people who like taking naps..." She said. "Sleep is reeeaaally important..."

I didn't want to ruin this poor girl's enlightened visage on the apparent laid-back attitude of Planeptune's general populace, despite most of the population happily taking part in nine-till-five jobs and working overtime, all to secure our technological advancements against the other nations. Someone like me was pretty pathetic when paired up with the rest of Planeptune. Maybe even the entirety of Gamindustri.

"I think that, too." I replied. "But that goes against Planeptune's theme, doesn't it?"

She tilted her head in a way that connoted confusion.

"The land of purple progress..." I recited. "Being workaholics. That's our gimmick, right?"

"Aww..." She moaned. "But breaks are important..."

Breaks were the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. Or, at least, that's what I enjoyed telling myself. Being such a nomadic individual, I was more well-versed in the inner workings of Planeptune's infrastructure than most, constantly having to spend my nights in various hotels around the city. Sure, there would be bad days, where I'd have to sleep in the most run-down apartment complex in the city, but that was nothing compared to the days where I was paid generously, and I'd be able to afford to spend the night in a high-rise hotel with room service and comfortable beds.

"Hard-working folk are what makes Planeptune so successful." I said. "Having such a hard-working economy is what keeps people happy with the CPU."

The pajama-clad Goddess in question seemed to take my words to heart. Very rarely did Lady Plutia's smiling visage ever falter, and when it did, it usually meant that she was becoming irritated with something. Her HDD was something many people went out of their way to avoid. Perhaps the reason why everyone worked so hard is because they lived in constant fear of what Lady Plutia would do to them if productivity wasn't skyrocketing.

"Are you a hard worker too?" She pondered aloud.

"No." I replied honestly. "I like to take breaks."

"Huh?" She mumbled, tilting her head in confusion. "Doesn't that go against what you just said...?"

"I said how nice it was that Planeptune works so hard. I never mentioned how I was part of that."

"Does that mean you don't believe in me...?"

I realised my mistake of implying that I didn't have any faith in her and promptly began waving my hands to signify that she got the wrong idea.

"N-No! No! Of course not!" I yelled. "I have faith in you!"

I'm honestly sure that no-one knew how shares worked. Countless mathematicians had spent their entire lives trying to figure out how the faith of the people can directly correlate to a CPU's power. After an unspecified amount of time, most CPUs simply stated that attempting to decipher the concept of shares was useless, and presented the questions of how monsters seemed to magically respawn and how inventions such as the internet came to frution. The answer for both of those questions was clear: magic. Monsters were simply being of pure energy, and their materialisation was clearly the world's way of removing all that pent-up frustration it gets from Lastation's pollution, and the internet was clearly made by some form of tech wizard, who used his mind powers to create something that would invariably consume the souls of everyone living in Gamindustri.

"That's good to hear..." Lady Plutia said. "...But how do you live if you don't work?"

"I do odd jobs around the city." I responded.

"Don't you have anywhere to stay...?"

"Not at the moment, no."

I was content with my lifestyle, although that didn't stop a look of worry taking over the CPU's face.

"That isn't good." She concluded. "Wouldn't you like to live somewhere?"

The appeal of a big house all to myself wasn't lost on me. I frequently told myself that I'd eventually accrue enough credits to afford my own place, but that reality wasn't getting any closer to being fulfilled while I spent most days sleeping outside.

"Of course." I replied. "It'll just take time, is all."

That didn't seem to placate Lady Plutia. The blades of grass beneath her rustled and trembled as she rose up from the ground, holding her plush doll in one hand and staring at me with a sort of vacant, almost agitated look that made my blood freeze. I've experienced fear many a time when I worked on some of Planeptune's more dangerous architectural pursuits, but nothing quite compared to the feeling of being stared down by a CPU. I was almost certain she was going to attack me for a moment.

"Come with me..."

I felt some horrible tingle in my spine, like God himself had spoken to me and said that anything bar pure obedience was going to get me killed. I didn't resist when she reached down and grabbed me by the hand, pulling me off the ground and leading me away from the riverbank. It felt degrading, being paraded around by a little girl, although the sad truth of it was that this particular little girl was more powerful than most of Planeptune combined, so at least I had a viable excuse tucked away.

"W-Where are we going?" I asked cautiously.

"Back to Planeptune."

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold up a second." I persisted. "You don't even know who I am!"

"Huh...?" She muttered, turning her head back to face me. "...Then who are you?"

'Who was I?'

Such a deep question. In reality, did any of us really know who we were? Were we not all but humanoid machinations of a world gone mad, where Goddesses clawed and fought to defend their nations? Were we not all fleshy caskets of bone, forever doomed to live out our lives without the knowledge of such awful things as death, forced instead to endure and hope vaguely that at the end of our lives lies a pleasant existence?

"My name's Modem."

But yeah, that was my name.

"Mo-dem?" She repeated slowly. "Heheh... that's a weird name."

With the technological industry booming in recent years, common appliances had become household names for some ludicrously obscure reason. I was willing to put credits on the assumption that no two people in Planeptune had the same name. I just felt relieved that I didn't get tagged with something more degrading, like 'Toaster' or 'Washing Machine'. Modem was quite a fitting name, given the steady rise in popularity of the internet in recent years.

"Plutia is a weird name, too."

"But I'm a CPU, so it's fine..."

Despite the rather jovial direction that this conversation was taking, I never once bothered to ask Lady Plutia why she was dragging me towards Planeptune. Being guided around by a Goddess wasn't something that I made space for on my daily agenda, but perhaps my curiosity was simply getting the better of me. If I were to get on Lady Plutia's good side, then my life would certainly get a lot easier. I doubt many interviewers would turn me down after hearing that I had a direct lifeline to the girl that dictated the success of their nation.

The emerald visage of the riverbank was quickly replaced by a dizzying amount of lilac as the opulent towers of Planeptune pierced the skies. I was led through geometric streets of white and purple, past shopping malls and towering skyscrapers, some of which I recognised, most of which I didn't. What remained in our trip through the city, however, was the ever-expanding form of Planeptune's central establishment; the sanctuary. An absolute beast of architectural intellect, the largest building in Planeptune was, rather unsurprisingly, reserved specifically for the Goddess. They were to act as a CPU's home when they weren't bettering the economy or performing mercenary work.

Due to the rather dangerous amount of high-rise buildings and transit services, pedestrian movement in Planeptune was generally restricted to a complex set of corridors and elevators that allowed individuals to travel through the city without having to worry about harming themselves. However, it also made navigation significantly more difficult. Seeing the same designs and logos on the same elevators every day of your life made it easy to get lost, especially if you were new to the city. Perhaps that was the reason why I didn't notice us progressively getting closer and closer to the sanctuary, or how the general populace began being replaced by a rather terrifying amount of guards.

"I get the feeling that I'm not supposed to be here..." I muttered, as a guard shot me a disproving glance.

"It's okay..." My dopey-headed tour guide reassured. "We'll be there soon..."

"You haven't told me where 'there' is." I replied. "...W-We're not seriously heading to the sanctuary, are we?"

She didn't reply. Instead, she turned her head and flashed a quick smile before tightening her grip and quickening her pace. It was possible to get inside the sanctuary if you were some kind of high-ranking government official who reported directly to the CPU, like the Oracle, but apart from that, security made it almost impossible to get anywhere close to it. It was my first time seeing the largest building in the city from the bottom. It seemed that for every step we took, the amount of guards with their purple-and-white robes increases tremendously, to the point where I was almost certain that there were more people protecting Planeptune than actually living in it.

Plutia seemed oddly nonchalant about skipping a stranger straight through the most important place in the city, while I simply lowered my head and tried not to make eye contact with anybody. Eventually, she huddled me into an incredibly overcompensated elevator with intricate purple laces intertwining beautifully amongst a sea of glass. Five seconds passed, and we must have been a quarter of the way up the building, which was more than enough to see Planeptune in its entirety. I had worked on construction jobs in the past, and I certainly got to see some great views while I was doing it, but nothing quite compared to being shuttled to the top of the sanctuary and being able to see the tips of skyscrapers without even having to squint.

My thoughts began wandering to why Lady Plutia brought me here. I considered her reaction to my general nonchalance about not having a place to stay, and wondered if she was simply using this as an excuse to show off her immense upper-class lodgings to someone far less important than her. That being said, this was Lady Plutia we were talking about, and I had a hard time imagining that any notion of malice existed in that pure heart of hers. Was I about to be offered some high-paying job in some megacorporation? Was this simply something to remind me of the benefits of hard work and tenacity in such a competitive nation? Was I simply dreaming this, perhaps? All of those options seemed plausible, and the latter especially.

The top of the sanctuary was incredibly small. It made sense, considering that it acted as the CPU's home, although I was a tad underwhelmed by the rather run-of-the-mill wooden mahogany-hued door that awaited us at the top of the elevator. I was expecting a shimmering golden gate that would open majestically to an orchestral chorus of trumpets and angels flying out, holding ribbons and spraying confetti everywhere. But no, Lady Plutia simply walked up to the door, twisted the knob, and pushed. I could say with quite a degree of certainty that there were hotels I had stayed in that had more professional presentations.

Come to think of it, pretty much everything after this point was underwhelming. You'd expect the CPU; an almighty Goddess that created and retained the land you so graciously referred to as your home, would live in some kind of palace, where they'd be treated as Queens and given room service and foot massages and all that funky jazz. Plutia's room, which was much more akin to a child's bedroom, didn't give off any of those vibes. It was an overly-garish, high-key colour fest that made my eyes hurt just looking at it. The floor was a mix of bright yellow and sickly orange, separated evenly into squares, contrasted in a juxtaposed manner by the rather mellow cream colour of the walls, before psyching you out and littering the ceiling with colourful floral patterns, all tied together by a blinding ceiling light in the very middle.

Classic room furniture, I had to admit, as long as you omitted the tea table, the heart and hexagon-shaped cushions, the rather unintuitive double-layered chest of drawers that covered the entire left side of the room, and the incredibly large shelf situated in the corner displaying a myriad of plush dolls made in the likeness of some of the other CPUs, along with a number of individuals whom I didn't recognise. When you got those out of the way, it was just the bed, the carpet and the windows, really.

I'd bet credits that if you showed any female child under the age of five this room, they'd be the happiest child in Planeptune. I had to admit, though, it did thematically agree with Lady Plutia's personality and choice of clothing; kind of a ditzy, stupid room for a ditzy, stupid girl. Except Lady Plutia wasn't five years old. I was almost certain that she had to be gearing towards the eighteen mark by this point, which made me further question the legitimacy of our nation's progressive nature.

"...This is your room?" I inquired.

"Yup." She replied. "Isn't it nice...?"

The colours alone were enough to make me want to consider removing my eyeballs, but it wasn't like I could just tell her that. I opted to remain silent on the issue. For the first time in about half an hour, Lady Plutia finally released her iron grip on my wrist, relinquishing her hold and blessing me once more with the gift of freedom. I weighed the chances of me being able to dash for the door in the time it would take for Plutia to notice I was gone, but I decided against it with the hopes of preserving my life.

"It's a little harsh on the eyes."

"But it's cute..." She muttered. "...I like cute things."

I was led over to the disgustingly pink-clad, shin-height table in the centre of the room. It had 'cute' little frills with soft plushy balls of various sizes dangling off the edge of the fabric. The four cream and purple seats surrounding the table were clearly meant for convenience, seeing as Lady Plutia was probably the type of person who didn't want to shred her kneecaps up by sitting on the floor. They were pretty comfy though, I had to admit. I may have become partially blind, but it was clear that everything in the room was of a standard befitting of a Goddess.

There was a rather sophisticated tea set that came from somewhere when I wasn't looking; presumably from under the table, although that didn't explain why the tea Lady Plutia started to pour was still hot. The beverages were stuffed into dainty little teacups with an assortment of common gemstones laced around the outside. It was garish, much like everything else in the room. Not once did I ever object to the fact that Lady Plutia, the CPU of Planeptune, was casually offering tea to someone whose name she had only learned less than an hour ago.

"...You still haven't told me why I'm here." I said slowly. "You've practically kidnapped me, you know."

"Heheh..." She giggled. "I figured I would tell you over tea..."

She finished pouring and used her fingers to push the cup to my side of the table. When I took my eyes off the tea, her hands were magically free, with any notion of her holding anything in the last few seconds completely erased. I wrapped my hands around the cup and brought it up to mouth level.

The truth was, I absolutely despised tea. I'm not sure if it was simply personal preference, or if there was something wrong with my mouth, but the prospect of a heated drink irked me for some reason. It was the same for coffee, or even hot chocolate. I simply couldn't bring myself to drink anything that had been warmed up beforehand. Drinks were supposed to be these cool, refreshing things that you have after a long day to cool yourself down, not something that you use to heat yourself up.

I drank it, nonetheless. It would have been rude of me not to. To my dismay, it seemed that even tea poured by the Goddess of Planeptune herself wasn't enough to change my opinion on the stuff. I downed it to keep my pride, not because I enjoyed it. Lady Plutia was only halfway through her own drink by the time my mouth was a heated cavern of black poison, and the cup in front of me was empty. I took a few seconds to collect myself before deciding to inquire about the CPU's decision to bring me here.

"Lady Iris Heart..." I began.

She took a momentarily break from tipping the cup towards her mouth to shoot me a look of softened annoyance. She raised her free hand and wagged her index finger disappointingly. Apparently, I had done something to offend her. She finished her tea before replying.

"I don't like being called that..." She informed. "Just call me Plutia, okay?"

I thought it was a little disrespectful, but there wasn't any real point in arguing with her, so I decided to roll with it.

"Plutia, then..." I corrected awkwardly. "Why'd you bring me here?"

She put a finger to her chin inquisitively, as if she herself had forgotten the reason.

"Hm..." She wondered aloud. "...I didn't like it when you said that you didn't have a place to stay."

If there was a general rule of thumb around Planeptune, it was that Lady Plutia very rarely didn't enjoy something. Any statement of that effect coming from her mouth spelled doom for the residents of the city. I gulped a little.

"And you said that you were happy with that..." She continued. "...But I don't think you are."

She was telling me that I wasn't happy with my nomadic lifestyle. I, for one, didn't have any qualms with sleeping in a different bed every night, and working a different job every day. I enjoyed experiencing new things. Waking up every day with the knowledge that I was probably going to be doing something I hadn't before was an exciting prospect. I didn't understand how Lady Plutia could interpret it differently.

"Mo-dem..." She pronounced awkwardly. "...It doesn't sound like you have a lot of free time."

I pondered that for a moment. The free time I had every day, being around three hours, was usually spent by the riverbank where Lady Plutia met me. I spent most of my time sleeping and dozing off there. It was more free time than I was entitled to.

"I've got plenty of free time." I replied. "You wouldn't have met me if I didn't."

"...Hey, Mo-dem..." She drawled slowly. "...When was the last time you had fun?"

That was an odd question. I suppose the logical answer would be to say that I was having fun right now? I recalled the last few jobs I had undertaken. I worked as a construction worker on one of Planeptune's larger skyscrapers a few days ago. The view was great, so I suppose that was fun. But then again, it was always pretty busy and the sound of heavy machinery made it hard to relax.

I worked as a bartender two days ago. It was fun meeting new people and listening in on conversations. That being said, folk were often only there to purchase a few drinks and leave. There wasn't any time to make meaningful conversation. Plus, a lot of people didn't feel comfortable talking with someone who was only being paid to serve the drinks.

Yesterday, I was a caretaker for one of Planeptune's parks. It was a tranquil experience, just being able to stay by myself and sweep away to my heart's content. But it wasn't as if I accomplished anything. I cleaned up a park, sure, but who would actually appreciate that? Who'd notice that a dead leaf had been removed? Looking back, it didn't seem very fun after all.

"When I was sleeping." I replied. "Before you came."

It was just me and my thoughts at the riverbank. No-one to talk to. No-one to consider. All I had was the sound of flowing water down below and the rustling of leaves beneath my feet. I had fun, just thinking to myself and considering my options. Just having the time to think was fun enough for me, and I got to catch up on some sleep in the process, too. Those three hours I spent every day were the most fun I had. I was at my happiest when I wasn't working.

"Heheh..." She giggled. "I thought you'd say that."

She was smiling brightly.

"It's fun just having time to yourself, right...?" She muttered. "That kind of stuff makes me happy, too."

I couldn't help but agree with her.

"Being a CPU is reeaaally hard..." She said. "I'm at my happiest when I'm not working..."

...

"You and me, Mo-dem..." She mumbled out awkwardly. "...We're kind of the same, right?"

I think I finally started to understand what she was rambling on about by that point. There wasn't any fun to be had when you were working. The best part of the day is when you get to curl up and sleep for a few hours, not having a care in the world. In Planeptune, the large majority of the populace took work more seriously than any of the surrounding nations, meaning that working hard was deeply ingrained in our city's culture. Because of that, it'd be hard to find anyone who didn't take work seriously. Someone who just wanted to waste away their day in a bed by themselves. In a juxtaposed twist of fate, our CPU happened to embody a work ethic that Planeptune detested, meaning that there was no-one else who shared her mindset.

No-one except me.

"...Yeah." I replied. "...I guess we are."

Lady Plutia was a successful CPU. She had founded this incredible nation, given the citizens whatever they wanted, and made sure that the people were happy. The citizens wanted progress, so that's precisely what she gave to them. She gave them the knowledge necessary to separate us from the other nations in terms of technological superiority. It only struck me just then, but I realised that if I had been the leader of Planeptune, that's exactly what I would have done as well. Just make sure everyone is happy, and as long as you can assure that, then you're free to do whatever you want. If I had that kind of approval, then I'd probably spend most of my day sleeping, probably to the point where I'd end up even wearing my pajamas outside. I wouldn't have to bother caring about my hair anymore, or how slow and drawn-out my speech became from how relaxed I was.

I'd be pretty happy, if that were the case.

"Soooo..." She said lazily. "...I've got a question for you."

"Go ahead."

She made eye contact with me. I couldn't quite shake how intimidating those opulent eyes of hers were.

"...Do you wanna live here...?"

...

I didn't particularly enjoy long, drawn-out silences in conversations. They got rid of any attachment you had to the other person. But I had to allow it just this once, to mull over what she had just proposed. Here? As in, Plutia's room? Or the sanctuary? What brought this proposition on? I had barely known Plutia for an hour, and she was asking a question like that as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"...Why would I want to do that?" I asked.

"You said you liked sleeping and dozing off and stuff..." She answered. "This is a good place for that."

"I don't have any money."

"Heheh..."

She giggled dryly, as if I had said something stupid.

"You don't need to have any." She replied.

"Why bother taking me in, then?"

"Because you and me are the same..." She explained. "It's too hard finding friends in Planeptune. Everyone is always working..."

She wanted a friend. It was a valid reason to invite me here, but offering to let me stay was going a little too far.

"You can help out with my CPU work..." She continued. "And in return, you can relax as much as you want..."

She'd give me a job. I hadn't considered up until this point what a CPU's duties actually entailed apart from the monster slaying. I wouldn't have to spend my days looking for a job to pay for food and water anymore. I'd be able to be around someone who was the same as me. Plutia didn't seem to have any objections to me staying, and I found myself considering the offer seriously for a moment.

"...Would that really be okay?" I asked. "We barely know each other."

She tilted her head and smiled cutely.

"Then we'll get to know each other..." She replied confidently. "It'd be nice, talking to someone like you..."

If you had arrived and told me that today, I'd be whisked away by a CPU to a life of civil duty and cushy rooms, then I'd have cast you off the riverbank. Into the water, preferably, because you were clearly some form of lunatic. Never in my life did I imagine that I'd ever find myself in this situation. Most citizens of Planeptune were lucky if they managed to spot Plutia in public, nevermind actually hold a conversation with her. And yet someone like me got personally invited to her quarters, despite not being successful in any way.

"...I suppose I could give it a try." I muttered, staring down at the table. "If that's alright with you."

I looked back up, and Plutia had suddenly moved from her side of the table over to mine. I barely had enough time to raise an eyebrow before I felt two thin arms wrap tightly around my waist. I at least moved my head to the side slightly, so that Plutia didn't headbutt me. I made an admittedly rather feminine yelp when she pressed her entire body up against mine, nearly sending me careening backwards in the process. Amidst my confusion, I could hear the faint sounds of the CPU giggling quietly while she tucked her head into my chest.

"W-What are you doing...?" I questioned, thin streaks of crimson dancing loosely among my cheeks.

"Mo-Dem's chest is so soft..." She commented shamelessly.

"Please don't say weird stuff like that..." I replied. "...C-Could you remove yourself? Please?"

"Heheh..." She giggled. "Are you really going to stay here?"

"I'll tell you when you stop hugging me."

She moaned a little, as if contemplating my statement.

"No." She responded selfishly. "Tell me now..."

"I'll stay, alright?" I said in a pleading tone. "Please remove yourself from me."

"That's good..." She drawled. "We'll have lots of fun together..."

It took willpower and an unprecedented amount of strength to stop Plutia from hugging me. At least I could now brag about being hugged by the CPU of Planeptune, although I think the city-wide Plutia fan club would probably end up killing me if they heard about it. The front of my clothes smelled like lilac shampoo, and would continue to for the next few days to come. Plutia returned to her side of the table and smiled brightly, as if she was proud of herself for somewhat unfairly coaxing me into staying by using an ultimatum.

Things were a hazy mess after that. Apparently, it was possible to tell if a CPU was being physically touched, which meant that within five minutes of our exchange, half of the Planeptune national guard came barging through the bedroom door. I had more polearms pointed at me than I cared to count. Things must have continued like that for the next hour, where Plutia desperately (or, at least, as desperately as Plutia could get) attempted to explain the situation.

There were papers after that. Lots and lots of papers. I've never had to sign so many documents before. My right arm was practically aching after all the paperwork was done. I didn't even have enough time to read most of them, so I hoped vaguely that I didn't skip over anything important. I got a half-hour lecture from a guard afterwards on how touching Lady Plutia was grounds for instant death if any of them were around. I questioned if there was any way of me getting out of this, seeing as I was already starting to regret my decision. The guard did a little chuckle and walked away without answering the question. I think it answered more than his words ever could.

I was on a riverbank less than three hours ago, relaxing like I did every day. Now, I was in the sanctuary of our nation's CPU, signing documents and getting lectured about having to move in with the creator and retainer of the entire city. But maybe that wasn't a bad thing, in the end. I never realised before today that I didn't particularly enjoy any of the jobs I did around the city. Sleeping was the only enjoyment I actually got. It was a little disheartening knowing that it took a Goddess to notice that. In three hours, I had accomplished more than I had accomplished in my entire life.

That was how I met Plutia. It was a horrific mess of a decision that I made on a complete whim that led me towards her. That was how, in such a short time, I had established a bond with one of the strongest individuals in the world, through nothing but a few words at the riverbank and a conversation over tea. It was completely surreal. I still had trouble wrapping my head around what I had just done. I wondered what direction my life was going to take, and if I would actually enjoy my time in the sanctuary.

One thing I could say for certain, though, is that I was going to start spending a large portion of it with a dysfunctional, narcoleptic Goddess.


	2. Chapter 2

Gamindustri was a rather beautiful area. There was no shortage of incredible views, even if you were in a city. Whether it was the tranquil countryside that surrounded the lands, or the sky-piercing towers of Planeptune, no-one could deny that Gamindustri was a ridiculously photogenic place. And it showed, with photography being a rather popular hobby in recent years. It was hard not to get pulled towards the journey of trying to find that perfect view; that immaculate scenic shot that'd send you into the big leagues. I had hear of folks who had travelled to the most dangerous places Gamindustri had to offer, just to pursue that dream.

But there was no denying that the best factor when taking pictures was height. Why bother sticking to ground level, when there were so many high-rise buildings and mountains dotted around the world? I felt a little bad about taking away the chance of anyone managing to get a shot from the top of Planeptune's sanctuary. I could say for certain that it was one of, if not _the_ tallest point in Gamindustri. Lastation and such all had impressive architecture, but nothing compared to the incredible ego-blimp that was Planeptune's gargantuan monolith of a headquarters.

I thought that to myself as I looked over the entirety of Gamindustri from the very top of the tower. To my bewildered surprise, the elevator that had connected all the floors of the sanctuary didn't stop at Plutia's room. If one stayed on for long enough, they'd find out that it continued to the tower's highest point; a small, circular room that covered the circumference of the building. Huge, glass walls were placed around the edges of the tower. It had to be a room in progress, seeing as there wasn't any furniture around. From there, you could look out and see most of Gamindustri. I discovered it a few hours after I finished the paperwork necessary to live here, trying to use my free time to get used to the layout of the sanctuary.

"...I live here now..."

I still had trouble coming to terms with it. The whole situation happened too fast for it to be normal. Whether I liked it or not, this was my home now, and there was no going back, no matter how hard I might try. That being said, there was no immediate reason for me to leave. Sure, Plutia might have gotten the edge by pulling that hug trick earlier, but it wasn't as if I planned on saying no, anyway. Who'd turn down the opportunity to live with a CPU?

I heard the door open behind me, which was the only real object of interest in this otherwise completely empty room. I turned around to spot the lilac-haired, plushie-clutching Goddess of Planeptune stroll lazily into the room. Even her footsteps, padded by those eye-searing bright pink slippers of hers, were still audible in that empty husk of a room. She yawned and smiled happily at me.

"I was wondering where Mo-dem went..." She muttered, her voice echoing. "What're you doing up here?"

"Enjoying the view." I replied. "It's nice up here."

She cast her eyes towards the glass panes that made up the room's walls, her expression turning to one of piqued curiosity.

"...I was thinking of turning this into a room for you..." She said.

"W-Woah..." I replied. "Really?"

I'd seen nice views from a bedroom before. On one particularly lucky day where I catered to a rather well-off family's home, I ended up with quite a few credits to spend, and so I decided to treat myself to one night at a penthouse suite in a nice part of town. It was by far the most comfortable night I ever had. But not even the views from one of Planeptune's skyscrapers could top this. Full on, all-around vision to the rest of Gamindustri, from the comfort of my own room. It sounded like an enticing proposition.

That's what I thought to myself, at least. Plutia seemed remarkably adept at closing gaps, because when I turned my head back, her arms were already halfway wrapped around my waist. I did an involuntary backstep, which only further served to unbalance my weight as Plutia's body rammed right into mine. In a similar fashion to the last time this happened, I let out a short shriek and promptly began wriggling in a desperate attempt to get the CPU of Planeptune off of me.

"Nope..." She said slowly. "Because you're going to be living in my room~"

The general consensus when it came to friendship was that it was a very lengthy, very delicate process, which often times took years to develop into anything truly meaningful. I couldn't help but feel as though Plutia had skipped a few hundred steps on how to become close friends with someone, deliberately jumping straight from 'meeting' to 'kidnapping' to 'living together' to 'sleeping in the same room'. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that most of those couldn't even be tagged as 'friendship' anymore.

"...Y-You're not being serious, right?" I asked between heavy intakes of oxygen.

"Huh...?" She muttered, dejected. "...You don't want to?"

She stared up at me while still keeping her bony arms wrapped tightly around my waist. She looked completely floored that I had just said that to her, as if not wanting to sleep in the same room as a girl you had only just met was some kind of social taboo. I maintained eye contact with her, which was probably for the worse, seeing as those horrific magenta-hued pools of hers exuded an aura of intimidation that I wasn't quite capable of rejecting.

"It's not that..." I replied. "Don't you think that'd be a little embarrassing...?"

She mulled over my words while still clinging to me.

"...Mo-Dem's a pervert."

I had been called a lot of things in my life. Lazy, incompetent, good-for-nothing, but there was always a distinct detachment that I felt whenever such a tag was applied to me. I didn't have to listen to the folks who berated me in such ways, because they clearly didn't know anything about me. But even when adopting that mindset, I felt nothing bar absolute despair from being referred to as a 'pervert' by the CPU of Planeptune. It was as if Plutia had taken my feelings, ground them into dust, and stomped on the ashes, all while smiling giddily.

"That's not a nice thing to call someone, you know." I scolded.

"...It was your fault." She accused relentlessly. "You were thinking of weird stuff."

If I had to take a vaguely educated, albeit arbitrary guess, I would say that Plutia was around my age. She may have spoken with the drawn-out drawl of a ten year-old, and adopted the personality of a narcoleptic, but it was quite clear that it was simply a bi-product of far too much free time. Was I wrong, then, to have my thoughts drift towards less-than-civilised scenarios after being in such close-quarter situations with a girl my own age?

"You're imagining things." I defused. "Please stop hugging me."

Plutia removed herself from me with some vague notion of consent, as opposed to last time, where I was forced to rip her from my chest like some kind of crazed animal. The front of my clothes now smelled doubly like lilac shampoo, and would continue to do so for several weeks.

"Let's go back down..." She muttered. "It's kinda cold up here."

Apart from the windows, there wasn't anything noteworthy about the room. The fact that it lacked any heating meant that it'd be rather uncomfortable to stay for too long. I turned towards Plutia and nodded my head. She smiled brightly at me before twirling around and strolling happily towards the door. I followed suit, into the glass elevator that connected the floors of the sanctuary together.

It was getting late. I didn't have anything on me that could tell the time, but the sun had just begun tipping gently over the horizon, meaning that I had already been here for quite a while. Granted, the paperwork took a ridiculous amount of time and effort, so I wasn't surprised to see that the day had gone in so quickly.

Mere minutes later, and we were back in Plutia's room, with its awful, eye-piercing colour scheme and layout. The thought crossed my mind that perhaps it would have been a little easier for me if I had disputed against Plutia's demands to stay in her room. Opening up my eyes in the morning was going to be a painful task. Plutia's bed was situated in the corner of the room, thematically agreeing with the rest of the room in that observing it was akin to staring directly into the sun.

She had to at least have the decency to supply me with another bed. The frilly amalgamation of colours in the corner was more than enough for two people, but I imagined Plutia would at least draw the line somewhere. There was a point, I thought, where her incessant intentions towards me staying with her would be superseded by the all-powerful force of common sense.

"...I hope you don't mind sleeping in my bed." She drawled out lazily, pressing a finger against her chin.

Forget that, then. I was clearly dealing with some omniscient Queen of indecency, whom the forces of embarrassment simply rebounded from. I, on the other hand, considered myself a man of utmost awareness, which meant that I differentiated myself from Plutia in having a working brain-case, as opposed the barely aware, layabout brain matter skittering around the inside of her head.

"That's fine."

What was rejecting her offer going to net me? Another hug? I may have thought myself above Plutia's simple thinking, but I had only now realised that through the power of unwarranted physical contact, I was simply dancing around in the palm of our nation's Goddess, fooling myself into believing that I had the upper hand, when in reality, it was this tiny, lazy girl who had the advantage over me.

Speaking of Plutia, she had already begun making herself rather comfortable on the bed. She must have been half-asleep by the time I looked back at her. I mentioned that it was late, but it wasn't nearly late enough to be sleeping quite yet. Then again, it wasn't my place to question the time at which our CPU decided she wanted to go to bed at. It gave me some time to unpack my things, at the very least.

'Unpack', used in the most bastardised sense of the word. I didn't have boxes of assorted possessions to haul in or anything like that. I did, however, make a point of carrying around a bag where I held some of my more valuable possessions. I'd had it dangling by my side for the better portion of the day, and it was starting to do a number on my shoulder, so it felt nice to finally set it down.

I unpacked my things on the small table me and Plutia had tea on a few hours ago. The contents included a large, plastic canteen, of which I almost certainly had no use for anymore, a rather outdated laptop that I picked up discounted in an obscure electronics store along with a small charger that I very rarely ever got to use, and a copy of Lady White Heart's 'Romance of The Four Nations', Lowee's best-selling novel a few months ago, which, rather oddly, took up the majority of the bag's space.

Everything I currently owned was arranged messily on the table. The canteen and the book only set me back a few credits, so the laptop was the only thing of any real value, and even that was pushing it a little. I found myself pleasantly surprised whenever I turned it on and saw that it still worked, despite the electronics store being rather desperate to get rid of it. I used it primarily for keeping myself in the loop of current affairs, and for a few low-spec ASCII games for whenever I got bored.

I flipped the lid and booted the thing up to make sure that it still had enough juice left in it. The horrific sounds of the hard drive's read heads vehemently attempting to get to the desktop were enough to partially encapsulate Plutia's attention. I watched as she shuffled to a sitting position on the bed and stared at the laptop with a curious expression.

"...Isn't that a little old?" She pondered aloud.

"Yeah. It's ancient." I replied. "I don't use it for much, though."

She removed herself from the bed and made her way over to the double-layered chest of drawers that covered the left side of the room. She spent a few minutes scouring them until she stared into one, smiled brightly, and reached in with both hands, before retrieving something thin and metal from it. She sat on the chair next to me and opened the top of a blindingly-white, incredibly sleek Planeptune-grade laptop. My own machine was some sort of horrendous abomination compared to the titan sitting mere inches away.

"...Haven't seen that model before." I remarked modestly.

"It's one of the perks of being a CPU..." She muttered. "...I get to try out all of the new technology before it gets released."

It was a roundabout way of saying that it was a top-of-the-line product. It accomplished in mere seconds what my own laptop took a few minutes to do, and with half of the blaring noise accompanying it. Topping it all off was how it was several operating systems ahead of mine. I was once again brought down to reality in noticing that Plutia was, in fact, just as important as her title said she was.

"Just showing off all your fancy tech to me like it's nothing..." I said, dejected. "...That's just straight-up disheartening..."

She giggled in a way that made me feel sorry for myself.

Her desktop background was, unsurprisingly, a mix of positively searing colours swirling and twisting together in the most awful way imaginable. I wondered how she could get any sleep with her room being so distracting. If you turned off the lights, the luminosity of the room's colour scheme would still be fairly visible.

"...I use this laptop for my CPU duties." She explained. "...Histoire makes me do paperwork sometimes."

I could only imagine what kind of damage it'd to to Plutia's head if she had to work for elongated periods of time. I mentioned earlier that she was a capable CPU, but that was largely due to the fact that she gave the citizens of Planeptune what they wanted most of the time, which kept her shares nice and even with the other nations. Any kind of actual work needed to be done personally by the CPU was probably handed off to some government official as opposed to Plutia herself. It was probably for the best, too.

"Paperwork..." I muttered. "Like signing forms or something?"

She nodded.

"...For all the things people living in Planeptune want."

It sounded like it'd be pretty easy to get what you wanted as long as you sent a form to the CPU. I assumed there was some kind of filtering system to stop Plutia from being flooded by spam requests and the like. It was a little worrying knowing that the leader of Planeptune could be so easily taken advantage of, although I suspected that the reason events like that were so rare was because people were too afraid of making her angry.

"I could help you with that, if you want." I offered.

"Really?" She replied.

I imagine the less paperwork Plutia had to do, the better. Plus, it gave me a chance to repay her for allowing me to live in the sanctuary. She passed the laptop over to me, the alloy-ridden build weighing about half as much as my own machine.

"Heheh..." She giggled softly. "Mo-Dem's so helpful..."

"It's Modem." I corrected. "Not Mo-Dem."

"...That's hard to say, though..."

"Plutia's hard to say as well."

"Reeaaally?" She asked slowly. "...Just call me 'Plutie'."

'Plutie' certainly fulfilled the criteria of what a nickname was supposed to accomplish, in that it removed a syllable and made it much easier to pronounce. I wondered, then, how 'Mo-Dem' was in any way easier to pronounce than my regular name, with it just being a fragmented version of how one would usually say it.

"Alright." I replied. "You'll have to start saying my name correctly, though."

She tilted her head and looked at me confusingly, as if she had been saying it correctly this whole time.

"...I'll just call you 'Mo' from now on."

"O-One syllable...?"

I understood, for the most part, that our CPU wasn't the most attentive of individuals. Some wary folk might even go as far as to call her outright incompetent, what, with her reluctance to do any real work relating to her position as leader of our nation, or the built-up tolerance to colours any ordinary person would label 'cohesive' or 'thematically appropriate'. The biggest kicker, though, was perhaps her inability and general reluctance to pronounce names beyond two syllables long.

Without particularly opposing the vapid nickname that Plutia had so excitably assigned to me, I opened up the internet browser on the laptop. I took note of the fact that someone had set a second tab to open whenever the internet was launched, which, upon closer inspection, seemed to be an e-mail account assigned to Plutia herself. On it, there were countless amounts of unopened messages, all containing walls of texts and linked attachments of important-looking documents. I wondered if allowing a common citizen of Planeptune to browse the Basilicom's archived documents was a breach of national security or not.

"Lady Histoire's really got her work cut out for her, huh?"

At the bottom of some of the unopened documents were the words 'Lady Plutia' scribbled in extraordinarily hard-to-decipher handwriting. It seemed far too professional a signature for someone of Plutia's exasperated disposition, so I could only assume that Lady Histoire had rightfully decided to take over most of the CPU's duties, probably more than a little worried that she would end up causing quite a few problems if she were put in charge of signing any important documents by herself.

"Histy works really hard..." Plutia mumbled. "...It's really helpful."

It was odd, but I had the feeling that Plutia wasn't really cut out to be a CPU.

"I could help with some of this." I said. "It'd make her job easier, wouldn't it?"

She became worried at my mention of Lady Histoire. She closed her eyes tightly and tilted her head.

"...About that..." She muttered slowly. "I haven't told Histy about you yet. I don't think she's going to be very happy with you staying here..."

Lady Histoire was a rather mysterious individual. She acted as a sort of mother-figure to the CPUs, constantly checking up on them and making sure that Gamindustri was still in working order. She seemed to spend most of her time around Plutia, though, probably because she was the least qualified to hold the title of CPU. I reluctantly agreed with Plutia in that Lady Histoire probably wasn't going to enjoy having a CPU distracted by a scrounger they picked up on the riverbank and adopted like a dog.

"I'm sure it'll work out just fine." I reassured. "Don't worry about it."

She clasped her hands together and smiled at me, placated by my reassurance that I wasn't going to be kicked out any time soon.

I checked the internal clock on the laptop. It was hard to tell the time of day with the lack of windows in Plutia's room, but if the clock was correct, then the sun would've already set by now. The room's scalding colour scheme made it seem as if it was always daytime. Perhaps that's why Plutia's sleep cycle wasn't too great. I shrugged and shut down the laptop.

"It's pretty late." I commented.

I normally wouldn't complain about being tired. For the better part of my adult life, I had adhered to a strict sleeping and napping schedule that kept me in top condition for working every morning. Very rarely did I ever feel the need to sleep earlier than I normally would. Today was far too overwhelming, though. With Plutia dragging me through the sanctuary, and all those forms I had to sign, there had been a rising tiredness in me for quite some time now.

"...Wanna go to bed?" Plutia asked, as innocently as possible.

I almost forgot that, in the demented haze that was moving into Planeptune's sanctuary, I hadn't disagreed to accompany Plutia in her dreary escapades. Perhaps if I were a more rational individual, I'd jump to conclusions and say something about how such shenanigans were wildly inappropriate, but in truth, what was arguing going to accomplish?

"Don't word it like that..." I replied. "It sounds creepy."

Plutia, the little heartfelt ball of innocence that she was, continued smiling, the very concepts of embarrassment and double meanings soaring in a perfect arc over her diminutive frame. One couldn't help but wonder how someone could stay so innocent in the rapidly-evolving age of the internet; a festering hive of sodomy that taints everything it can get its grubby tendrils on. She was an extraordinarily rare type of person to find in this day and age.

She moved forward in a sluggish way and took hold of my sleeve.

"Bedtime, Mo-Dem..."

It was bedtime, apparently.

The sheer audacity of this girl, to tell _me_ when it was bedtime. "I'm capable of making my own decisions.' I muttered stubbornly, furrowing my brow. Or, at least, I almost certainly would have said that, should Plutia have not shot me the most expectant little look; her piercing gaze softening as I locked eyes with her.

The bed was big. It wasn't like we'd bump into each other or anything. It practically counted as two beds, right? There wasn't any chance that, in the dead of night, one of her sprawled limbs would connect with my own and cause me to have a minor heart attack, right? We would have our own little portions, where we'd stay and not bother each other. That had to be the case. In a rather worrying recurring thought, I wondered again how I ended up here. From dozing off merrily by a riverbank, to sharing a bed with the _CPU of Planeptune._

"I-I mean..." I stammered out. "I'm fine on the floor, really."

There was a carpet. If it were as lavish as everything else in the room, then surely it'd be as comfortable as it looked?

"Aww..." She moaned. "But the floor's cold..."

"It's fine." I replied. "Wouldn't want to infringe on your personal space."

A quick tug, and I was halfway across the room. Underestimating the power of a Goddess, even one as incompetent as Plutia, could only lead to tragedy. I may have fooled myself, if only for a brief moment, into believing that Plutia was just some ordinary girl living in the most expensive lodgings in the most important building in Planeptune, before being snapped back into the horrible reality of the situation.

Three, maybe two seconds later, and I was on the bed before I even had enough time to voice my opinion on the matter. The thing was remarkably soft, nonetheless, almost making me forget about the implications of sleeping in the same bed as Plutia. I heard the impact of soft fabric next to me and turned my head to see that she had taken up a position on the opposite side. As imagined, the bed was incredibly large, and was more than enough to accommodate both me and Plutia at the same time.

"Don't you think this is embarrassing?" I inquired. "Just casually sharing your bed with a guy?"

She hummed to herself momentarily.

"But you're my friend, right...?" She responded.

"Friends don't usually move in together..." I muttered.

She giggled.

"...It's nice, though, isn't it?" She asked. "The fact that you live here now..."

I still had a little trouble thinking about it.

I _lived_ here. This wasn't a one-off thing. I had signed the forms, received the lectures, and personally received the favour of Plutia herself. It was terribly surreal. I could understand that Plutia longed for some kind of similarly narcoleptic sleep-buddy, but inducting them into your household? And only a few minutes after meeting them? It seemed absurd. No longer would I have to work a different job, and stay in a different hotel every day. My entire lifestyle, in one afternoon, crumbled to dust within half an hour.

But deep down, I didn't think that was a bad thing. There was some undeniable charm to Plutia. I felt as if I knew her better than I knew anybody. My co-workers, my friends, perhaps even my family. In such a short time, it felt as if we had become the closest of friends, for no reason other than we were both layabouts who enjoyed nothing more than slacking off. How did that saying go? 'Birds of a feather flock together?'

"...Yeah. I guess it is." I muttered. "Thanks, Plutia."

I didn't get a reply. Turning my head, her smiling visage was replaced by a tranquil, albeit partially curious look. Her breaths were long and rhythmic, and the eyes that had so easily captivated me before were now hidden from sight. I may have prided myself in the art of napping, but there was no conceivable way I could imagine someone falling asleep that quickly. My words were wasted, it seemed.

The lights weren't even off. The carnival that was this room still danced with high-key glimmers of radioactive shades wherever I looked. I turned myself towards the pillow on my side of the bed and dug my face into it, experiencing blackness for the first time in what felt like ages.

"...Comfy."

I doubt you'd get a bed like this anywhere else in Planeptune. It only made sense that a Goddess so obsessed with sleeping would get prime access to something like it. It almost felt unfair. There were so many other, more successful individuals whom Plutia could have plucked from the streets to live in the sanctuary. And yet, in the end, I ended up being the lucky winner. I almost wondered if there was some kind of underlying motive to Plutia's rampant kidnapping and subsequent domestication of me.

"...It's probably nothing."

And so, I spent my first night in the sanctuary engulfed in blinding colour, trying to catch some sleep while knowing full-well that the CPU of Planeptune was right next to me. Surprisingly, though, I did eventually manage to catch a few winks. As I fell asleep, I tried to grasp one last time that I, a stuttering nomad, somehow managed to find a place living with one of Gamindustri's most powerful individuals.

I failed. Miserably.


	3. Chapter 3

I awoke with a start the next day. Imagine my surprise when my peaceful rest was interrupted by the sudden appearance of far too many brazen colours setting off warning lights in my brain from the moment I opened my eyes. Imagine experiencing darkness; the very embodiment of nothingness, for several hours on end, and immediately being presented with a picture of the sun upon opening your eyes again. I could have sworn I heard my optic nerves sizzling with the sheer amount of colour I had so foolishly tasked it with processing.

I spent the resulting five, perhaps ten minutes attempting to remove the lingering effects of photo-bleaching from my eyes, blinking constantly amidst nothing bar absolute agony attempting to remove the black spots under my retinas that simply refused to go away. I was almost completely convinced that prolonged exposure to Plutia's room could cause permanent blindness if exposed to the right people.

Perhaps I should've moved more subtly, as the incessant mumbling to my side and the rather firm feeling of something wrapped tightly around my waist was evidence enough that my roommate, at some point in her sleeping daze, had decided to make physical contact with me; a situation I rather vehemently told myself would not happen the day prior. Lo and behold, my nightmarish thought process became a reality, and I found my lower body carrying the extra weight of one CPU when I brought myself up to a sitting position.

"Hey, Plutie..." I mumbled to the stirring mess of hair and fabric next to me. "Knock it off."

I sustained with the willpower of a saint as Plutia responded to my demands by tightening her iron grip around my waist. She yawned with the disposition of someone who thought themselves above the common rabble, apparently having decided that ignoring my question was something that I was simply going to look over.

"...Mo's so warm..."

"Get off."

Ordering around the CPU of Planeptune wasn't something I regularly included in my daily schedule, or, indeed, something that I ever planned on ever having to add to it in the first place, but fate had made her cruel decisions, and one of those decisions was to annoy me with the antics of the abnormally strong, albeit incredibly dozy retainer of our great nation. It was hard to do anything in the morning, really, but Plutia somehow found the strength in herself to temporarily unfurl her arms enough to let me escape from her grasp.

I was tired. I brought my arms up and sent flakes of sleep careening from my eyes whilst I quietly tended to the damage that my retinas had suffered. For all intents and purposes, it might still have been pitch-black outside. There weren't any windows, and there was no clock to speak of, so there was nothing to suggest that I was waking up at the right time. Although, I wondered, was there really a 'right time?' It wasn't like I had jobs to attend to or food to buy. For the first time in the last few years of my life, I awoke with the knowledge that there wasn't any reason for me to be up and about.

I was feeling rather peckish. The last thing I had to eat was a breakfast bar I purchased from a store yesterday morning. I turned to look at Plutia, who had once again been captured by the warm grip of sleep, her petite form rising and falling with each individual breath. I reached an arm back and gently took hold of her shoulder, before gently jostling it in an attempt to wake her back up. She mumbled some incoherent nonsense before the tiny slits hidden behind her messy hair morphed back into those horrendous magenta orbs that pierced me so ruthlessly.

"...Mornin', Mo..." She drawled out lazily, sounding even less capable than usual.

It was an after-effect of having just woken up, I'm sure, but only now had my grey matter begun processing the situation that I currently found myself in. Lady Plutia, the creator and retainer of Planeptune, was currently sprawled out before me, smiling and giggling oddly to herself while she bid me good morning and gave me affectionate nicknames. I had, through sheer luck, completely erased the past few years of my life; cast away to the recesses of my mind in exchange for a cushy life in the sanctuary of Planeptune, all while sharing a bed with the CPU herself.

"Mo...?" I heard her mumble. "You okay?"

I had a minor brain-stroke. A double take, if you will. Mentally, and only for a few seconds, I took a few steps back and analysed the situation from the perspective of the average Planeptune businessman. What unwavering will; what unknowable force had befallen me, that I had so easily disregarded Plutia's kindness as 'a lucky break?' I went from resting by tree trunks to living as a king in mere hours. I should be laughing, or perhaps even crying, that this fortune was bestowed upon me. And yet, I simply stared on, blank-eyed, at what may very well have been a sight only a few will ever see in their lives.

"Y-Yeah..." I blurted out. "I'm fine..."

She smiled at me. The _CPU of Planeptune_ smiled. At _me._

"...Are you hungry?" She asked.

I nodded solemnly. She kept the smile on her face as she picked herself up from the bed and moved beside me. I took note of the strange intricacy that her choice of attire had. It was clearly meant to be some form of sleepwear, but it looked more expensive than any piece of clothing I had seen before. Like everything Plutia owned, it was a myriad of bright, painful-to-look-at colours that swirled and twisted together in the most horrific ways. It looked like it'd be a pain to get on; what, with the multi-layered frills hanging off every limb, the oversized sleeves and the countless studs holding everything together. It was no wonder she wore it everywhere she went.

"...There's a kitchen downstairs..." She muttered lazily.

'Downstairs' was a modest way of putting it. We were in a tower - and a rather large one at that - situated in the very centre of Planeptune. I would have been genuinely surprised if there was actually some kind of staircase, and not to mention rather pitiful of the poor folk whose responsibility it was to climb them.

"The sanctuary has everything in it, huh?" I wondered aloud.

"Uh-huh..." Plutia replied. "A lot of people think it's just a government building. But it's mostly just my home."

Something like that was better as a secret. I don't think many people would be happy to find out that the largest structure in Gamindustri was devoted to housing one person. I assumed that the bottom floors would all be office blocks to offset any suspicions anyone might have about the sanctuary.

"Let's head down, then." I muttered.

"Aw..." She moaned. "Can't we sleep for a little longer...?"

"No."

Flat-out denial, it seemed, was the only way to pierce the shallow recesses of Plutia's mind. She looked positively livid at having the chance for more sleep so readily swiped away from her. With great reluctance, she made her way from the bed and towards the door. I followed her out into the cascading elevator that overlooked the city. It felt nice to be somewhere that wasn't a constant attack on the senses. I was honestly rather proud of myself for actually getting any sleep last night.

A few button presses later, and we were on our way down the sanctuary's gargantuan walls. The elevator came to a stop at an outcropping of hallways that sped off into a maze of endless corridors. Doors so perfectly bland that one wouldn't be reprimanded for mistaking the area an office peppered the hallways relentlessly. I followed Plutia as she began to trod lazily through one of the hallways, placing a finger to her chin inquisitively as she eyed each door with a curious glance.

"...This one." She concluded, reaching for the handle of a door identical to the others.

The hallway was bland, sure, but what awaited behind that door was anything but. Plutia threw it forward, whereupon the grimy exterior gave way to a myriad of explosive colours that danced among the walls and floors with unparalleled passion. Chairs and tables were littered across the room, some stacked in neat piles in an unremarkable corner whilst the others were set out in a professionally intricate manner. The back of the room gave way to a white-clad, almost industrial area where I could spot the heads of some hurried individuals who dashed with an almost inhumane speed.

'Kitchen.'

"It's like a restaurant..." I muttered.

Tables, chefs, the whole shebang. Fitting of a CPU, for sure, although perhaps even that didn't justify it enough. It was a professional place; something you'd see in Planeptune's more upper-class districts. I remained in stunned silence as Plutia grabbed my hand and guided me towards one of the tables. Almost immediately upon sitting down, a tiny little man with a crooked nose and a notepad came scurrying to Plutia's side. I was still a little too stunned to acknowledge anything at that point, so perhaps he might have asked something of me at one point, although I'm almost certain Plutia made the decision for me by the time I was brought back to reality.

"...Mo looks confused..." She muttered.

"...It's nothing." I muttered.

Goddess. Had to remember that. Things were going to be like this from now on. I just had to cope.

"...What do you wanna do after breakfast?"

"What do you usually do?" I retorted.

"I go back to sleep..."

"Right..." I replied. "How about a walk?"

"...A walk?" She repeated slowly. "That sounds nice..."

It'd be nice to get out of the sanctuary. The haughty life of a modern-day aristocrat was a tough one, indeed. What, with all the sleeping and eating in personal gourmet restaurants. Really starts wearing you down after a while. With almost unbridled levels of dexterity, the crooked man came hurrying back with two steaming plates of food that he quickly set down on the table, before scurrying his way back to the kitchen.

Plutia didn't seem one for variety, seeing as she had gotten us both omelettes. I probably would've asked for one if I hadn't spent the time it took to order spacing out. An absurd selection of silverware with intricate floral designs on the bodies were arranged neatly beside our plates. In all the time I had spent wandering Planeptune, I hadn't even gotten close to the service that Plutia had on a regular basis.

We ate quietly. Despite Plutia's personality, she seemed to at least know that now wasn't a particularly good time for conversation. It did give me time to think, though. Or perhaps it would be better to say that I had time to cope. It was all such a dizzying carnival, living in the sanctuary. I still had trouble referring to it as my home. I wasn't someone cut out for this kind of lifestyle. Would I eventually adapt to being pampered in a way that made me sick to the bone, or would I simply live life knowing full-well that I'd never quite get used to the sanctuary?

There was only one constant that kept me going throughout the whole thing. If I had to say anything about Plutia, it'd be that she had an almost magnetic personality. It was hard to get away from her, both physically and mentally. But perhaps that was a good thing, in the end. I was hesitant with the term 'friends', but that's precisely what we had become in such a short time. All because Plutia could relate to me. It sounded like something from a fairy tale, wherein the handsomely roguish and nomadic protagonist finds solace in the like-minded Goddess of his nation.

 _"Stuff like that usually turns out to be romantic, too..."_ I perused silently.

The CPUs were beings of eternal construct. When a nation is founded, a CPU cannot die from ordinary means. She can still be killed, granted, but she is hypothetically immortal, in a way. Does that explain the general coldness of the other Goddesses? Do they push people away simply because they couldn't possibly cope with losing them? I wasn't a CPU, so I wasn't one to speak on the matter, but I wouldn't be particularly happy with watching my friends and family wither away while I remained perfectly healthy.

"Mo..." I heard from across the table." ...You done?"

I stared up at her. Plutia had only been a CPU for a very short amount of time. She didn't age, but I was willing to bet that she was at least as old as I was, perhaps a few years younger. Although I'd rather my thoughts didn't stray to such matters, I couldn't deny that she was an attractive girl. Professionalism was all the rage in Planeptune these days. Domineering women with suits and ponytails were the object of every man's affection. Plutia wasn't anything like that. Her hair was a mess, she wore her pajamas everywhere, and she was everything but domineering. Although I couldn't deny that there was some abstract charm to the way she carried herself, most folk would just see her as a lazy girl if she wasn't the CPU.

"Yeah." I muttered. "I'm done."

"...Wanna go for a walk?"

"Sure."

It felt wrong, just getting out of our seats and leaving the room. That was the kind of place you went to for a three-course meal on some special occasion, not something you just stopped by for breakfast every day. Was that really how things were going to be from now on? I occupied myself with those thoughts as we made our way back through the office blocks, into the glass elevator connected to the outside of the sanctuary. It had been a while since Plutia dragged me into it for the first time. It'd be nice to see Planeptune through the eyes of an ordinary citizen again.

"You go for walks often?" I inquired.

"...Not really." She replied.

"You can go back, if you want." I said. "I just need some fresh air."

With a remarkable disregard for modesty, she took a few steps forward and began clinging to my arm. Dopey as she might have been, she seemed to invoke stupendous agility whenever she decided to partake in a bout of unwarranted physical contact. She stared up and smiled shamelessly at me, her face becoming a tad too close for comfort.

"But I want to spend time with Mo..."

I turned my head around sheepishly.

"You should probably stop doing that, you know..." I muttered. "People will get the wrong idea."

"...Mo gets embarrassed too easily..."

Plutia was hardly an obscure individual. It was normal to see her wandering around Planeptune's busier districts occasionally, and it'd be borderline mad if any self-respecting citizen didn't recognise her at first glance. What kind of reaction would folk have if they saw their opulent leader; their shining Goddess, out on the town with an individual they had never seen before? I could see the headlines now.

"Any guy would get embarrassed if a girl starts clinging to him..."

I shook my arm a little, but Plutia showed no signs of releasing her iron grip any time soon.

"But Mo's so warm..."

"Stop saying that."

The elevator hit the bottom of the sanctuary. I managed to wriggle free of Plutia incessant contact as a cascade of Planeptune's national guard turned their heads towards the two individuals leaving the tower. It'd be almost impossible to get anywhere close to the sanctuary if you didn't have any business there. They all shot seething looks at me, like I was encroaching upon their territory. I tried to make myself look as professional as one could while dragging a dopey, pajama-clad CPU behind me.

"Jeez..." I muttered. "The sanctuary's really well-protected, huh?"

"Histy really wanted to make sure I didn't hurt myself..." She replied quietly.

The guards thinned as we made for Planeptune's more public districts. The relatively quiet atmosphere of the sanctuary was quickly replaced by a dizzying amount of activity as crowds of people flooded the walkways and pavements connected the streets of the city together. Blaring neon signs were adorned atop towering skyscrapers, advertising the latest technologies being made available to the public whilst an overwhelming amount of businesses and stores populated the streets below.

Things were different, though. Once, I was a part of the struggling crowd of Planeptune, who pushed and shoved in the vague hope of securing a more comfortable space in the flash mobs that scoured the city like a swarm of rats. Crowds would actively part in two, and swerve with the gentle grace of a ballroom dancer whenever the CPU made her presence known in the streets. People seemed to acknowledge that, for whatever reason, their Goddess had decided to bring along some faceless individual to accompany her, and I received just as much pardon as Plutia herself.

"Feels weird, being treated like this..." I said as a particularly large group of people made way for us.

"Heheh..." Plutia giggled. "You're a VIP, Mo."

I could hear people in the crowd muttering. 'Who is this Mo fellow?' they proclaimed. 'Why does he have such a silly name?' 'Why is he talking to Lady Plutia?' So many questions, not enough answers. Things continued like that for a rather uncomfortable amount of time. Eventually, we managed to steal away into one of Planeptune's less populated districts, at least somewhat decreasing the amount of people judging this scruffy young man accompanying the CPU.

"Do the people always treat you like that?" I asked.

"Yup..." She replied. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"It's creepy." I continued. "It's like they see you as a tyrant or something."

"Maybe they were just scared of you, Mo?"

"I doubt that."

Something caught Plutia's eye. She made a curious sound before bounding towards a store with a large window out front. Placed on tiny little rotating pedestals were soft plushie toys made to resemble the Goddesses of the surrounding nations, much like the one Plutia always carried around. The dolls and excessive use of the colour pink led me to believe that it was some kind of arts and crafts store.

I didn't find looking at soft plushie dolls aimed at children particularly exhilarating, but Plutia seemed to be in a whole other world. Those swirling magenta pools of hers swirled and twinkled with excitement as the dolls rotated ever-so-slowly. She looked like a kid in a candy store.

"Dolls?" I questioned.

She nodded. Perhaps more enthusiastically than she should have.

"...I like sewing..." She remarked. "Making clothes, that kind of thing..."

It was a hobby of hers. That explained why she was so enamoured with the plushies in the window. I didn't know the first thing about sewing, or any kind of domestic hobby, for that matter, although I could say with quite a bit of certainty that the dolls were high-quality. That being said, I found it remarkably difficult to imagine Plutia enjoying such an activity. She seemed like the type of person who'd scratch themselves on the needle, what, with being a klutz and all.

"Why do you always carry that thing around with you?" I asked, gesturing to the ragdoll she held loosely in one hand.

"...It's cute, isn't it?" She replied, raising it up. "I can use it as a weapon, too..."

"...Right."

Call it a gut feeling, but I had the distinct impression that delving further into that statement was only going to make things more complicated than they already were. I left the abstract concept of Plutia's fighting style out of my mind, seeing as it would clearly require a more intelligent person than myself to comprehend the physics behind what she just said.

Plutia wandered away from the store.

"...Not going to buy anything?" I asked.

"I've already got most of the ones they have on sale..."

I had seen most of the plushies in the store window in Plutia's room. God knows why she needed so many if she only carried around one at a time.

"Hm..." I hummed, scratching the back of my head. "Should we head back to the sanctuary?"

We set out without any goal in mind, which, in retrospect, was a pretty terrible decision. We had accomplished little else bar mildly inconveniencing the civilian traffic of Planeptune and admiring some dolls in a store window. It was quite pleasant to stretch my legs after such a long time in the sanctuary, though.

"Yeah..." Plutia muttered. "I wanna go back to sleep..."

"Too many naps can be bad for you." I retorted.

"Huh...?" She replied confusingly, placing a finger to her chin. "How's that work?"

"You should take them in twenty or thirty minute sessions. Beyond that, it should be at least seven hours." I explained. "You end up more tired when you wake up otherwise."

"Oh..." She acknowledged. "Heheh... Mo's so smart..."

"I just picked it up from somewhere..."

It struck me as rather odd, how I was bossing around what may very well have been Planeptune's most powerful resident.

"But Mo..." She muttered. "You said that you usually sleep for four hours at the riverbank..."

...

"No I didn't."

"You did!" She pressed. "Maybe you should learn to follow your own rules, Mo..."

Outplayed. I had to hand it to Plutia. That was some straight-up savagery. The last person I expected to lecture me on sleep was someone who spent the better part of their day napping. At least I did it all at once, unlike Plutia, who just took a nap whenever she felt like it.

We occupied ourselves with useless topics like that while we walked back to the sanctuary. In the time it took for us to return, Plutia informed me rather nonchalantly that she was good friends with Lady Black Heart, the CPU of Lastation. She also went on an overly-long spiel of how one time, a strange girl fell from the sky and set off a terrifically complicated set of events that she said would take far too long to explain, and concluded it by stating that alternate dimensions were involved. I smiled and nodded my head. Perhaps she did need some sleep.

"Hey, Mo...?" She called. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Go for it."

"...You're okay with living in the sanctuary, right?"

"Hm?" I replied. "What're you getting at?"

"Well... it's just..." She stammered. "...You don't look very happy..."

The life that I led before all of this did a remarkable job of sucking the fun out of everything. There were a myriad of other individuals just like myself, who worked different jobs every day and slept in different beds every night. They weren't very content with their lifestyles, and a few of them were genuinely rather unhappy with how they chose to live their lives. Smiling and talking just seemed to remind them of how happy they could've been if they had chosen differently, so more often than not, I had to resort to working with nothing but either a frown or a poker face most of the time. Plutia seemed to notice that I didn't smile very often.

"I'm fine."

"...But you look really down most of the time..."

"Some people just look like that."

"You hardly smile, too..." She continued. "Aren't you happy?"

"Who wouldn't be?" I asked. "Living with the CPU of Planeptune isn't something everyone gets to do, you know."

"...That's because you're just like me, Mo..."

"I don't wear my pajamas everywhere." I replied. "I'm not a girl, either."

"...You're hard to please..."

"Sorry."

She took a few strides ahead and came to a stop in front of me.

"...Mo's not gonna leave, right?" She asked.

"Nope."

She didn't seem satisfied.

"...That isn't a very convincing answer..."

I was joking around, but Plutia seemed to be taking it quite seriously. If I wasn't so bad at reading facial expressions, I'd even go as far as to say that she looked a little worried when she asked that. I understood that I was the first person Plutia had met in a while who wasn't a business-oriented, suit-clad guy holding a briefcase, but she seemed to cope fairly well without me. And yet, I could almost feel a tinge of sadness from the Goddess, who perused with genuine curiosity whether I planned on leaving the sanctuary at any point.

So I did what every self-respecting guy did when their friends were down; I reached forward and gently placed a hand on Plutia's horrid mess of a hairstyle, eliciting a short exclamation of curiosity from the CPU. With as much sincerity as I could muster, I cracked the largest smile I could and stared directly into Plutia's eyes.

"I'm not leaving." I said honestly.

"...Really?"

"Yup." I replied. "Don't get so worked up about it, alright?"

She stared at me as if she had just met me. Even I had to admit, acting all mushy and close to someone I barely knew was a little awkward. Still, I had no reason to leave the sanctuary. It was a pleasant enough place, and I was sure that I'd get used to Plutia's antics in due time.

"...Your hair's a mess." I commented, rustling haphazardly through the tangled web of locks she dared to call a hairstyle.

"I can never be bothered to comb it..." She replied, having nothing short of utter consent for a two-day old friend picking through her hair.

"No need." I said. "It looks cute."

"Ah..." She exclaimed, before pulling a tiny smile. "Mo complimented me..."

"Don't take it the wrong way." I retorted. "Come on. Let's head home."

I suppose that's what I should have been calling it all that time.

'Home.'

It wasn't just the sanctuary anymore. It was the place I ate in every day and slept in every night. If that didn't constitute a home, I don't know what does. I definitely didn't have plans to leave any time soon, although I began thinking that it wasn't just because of the cushy beds and five-star breakfasts every morning. I wouldn't say it out loud, but I couldn't deny that Plutia was another reason for me staying here. If she was anyone else, I probably would have filed a restraining order by now, but there was something oddly endearing about the way she clung onto me at every available opportunity.

We walked back home in relative silence. It wasn't long before we were huddled back into the glass casing of the elevator and sent rocketing up to the highest point in Gamindustri. I mentioned that the view was nice, but seeing the skyline of Planeptune for the umpteenth time was starting to get a little repetitive. We arrived at the doorway that led into Plutia's room, whereupon I began remembering the almost-eldritch mix of invasive colours that invaded the room like a parasite. That was something I was never going to get used to.

Plutia waltzed over to the bed and collapsed immediately; the strain of a simple walk apparently fatiguing her to the point where a nap was of immediate importance. I had to admire her crippling addiction to duvet covers. It wasn't often that you saw someone in Planeptune so focused on slacking off. I walked to the end of the room and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"What'd I say about naps?" I called over.

"...Wanna join?" She replied.

"I'll pass." I said. "I don't get tired as quickly as you."

"...Come here."

She yanked my arm with enough force to pull it straight out of the socket. I landed in the divided no-man's land between our portions of the bed. I was breaking territorial laws by persisting on Plutia's end of the sheets. I made some vague effort to shuffle my body towards the side of the bed where I wasn't within danger-close of my far-too-physically-oriented roommate, but not before I felt a tiny, albeit incessant pair of arms wrap themselves around my waist. I stared blankly at the nearby wall as Plutia pressed her face against my back and giggled softly.

"...You know what?" I said. "I'm not even going to react any more."

What reason did I have to humour Plutia with trembling spiels of embarrassment? What was my body, if not a mere shell to house the unknowable power of my conscious? Physical contact shouldn't deter me, for it is a mental construct, engineered specifically to invoke feelings of attachment and companionship. Feelings that I had no need for, as I was a being of enlightenment, and of wisdom, and felt no need to chain myself to reality through such pointless endeavours.

"Please stop hugging me."

It was still quite embarrassing, though.

"...Why?" Plutia replied, exhibiting pure obliviousness.

"It's creepy." I answered. "You wouldn't do this to everyone you meet, would you?"

"No..."

"Why do you keep doing it, then?"

"Um..." She muttered, perturbed. "Because hugging Mo makes me happy..."

"...Right."

Of course she'd come out with a weird answer like that. It didn't seem possible to get any sort of coherent reply out of her. I pondered the ramifications of shaking her off once more, the utter tenacity of her callous advances making me wonder if it was actually worth it in the end. Being indecisive, it turned out, only led to the creation of more problems. By the time I had decided to free myself from her hold, her loosened grasp and steadied breath already confirmed that she had fallen asleep in the time it took me to calculate the risk of escaping.

In a confounded move of idiocy, and in such a short amount of time, I had trapped myself.

There was no getting out. No escape. I had been systematically defeated in a battle of wits by a near-comatose, pajama-clad narcoleptic with a complex for close-quarters contact. I cursed, albeit silently, as I didn't want to wake Plutia back up when she had so painstakingly worked her way into the perfect sleeping position.

"...Wouldn't hurt to get some sleep." I whispered.

Things would be like this from now on. Every day, Plutia would inadvertently find a way to entwine me in an iron grip that I would never get away from. Although perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing? I couldn't help but feel a little bashful after hearing Plutia say that doing this made her feel happy. There was a part of me that felt almost regretful whenever I had to pull the diminutive CPU away from me, although I'd never openly admit that.

I ended up falling asleep with a smile on my face, not even once considering the prospect of shifting away from Plutia's tired grip.


	4. Chapter 4

That morning, I awoke in a rather violent manner. The cacophony of utter insanity that was Plutia's room sent me into something of a panic attack. Waking up to such a rambunctious explosion of colour was terrible for the eyes, you see, so I told myself that my abhorrent reaction to it was perfectly justified. Before I fell humbly into the sound embrace of slumber, Plutia's tiny arms clutching me from behind, I prepared myself so as not to make the same mistake twice.

In the evening, when I woke up, it wasn't the boisterous streak of searing tones skipping along the room's walls that set me off, but instead, a sound that promptly awoke me from my slumber pierced my eardrums, much like an unexpected alarm clock would rouse the stoic businessmen of Planeptune from their three hour sleep cycles. This particular sound, however, was not of such a good-willed persuasion. Instead, it was more akin to the ghoulish cry of a damsel in distress, yelling ceremoniously at some unknown tragedy.

 _I reacted far too violently to it_ , I thought drowsily to myself as the resulting shock cast me from the soft confines of the bed frame and onto the carpet below.

Beyond me, some short thing levitated crudely in the air; petite limbs dangling from an impossibly large book, on which a diminutive figure of purple and blonde sat upon. It was a confusing experience for someone who had just woken up, to see someone as small as my hand flying around on an encyclopaedic tome. It didn't help that said someone currently had their tiny hands to their tiny face, their mouth agape in a show of what could be quite comprehensively summed up as pure terror.

"Mornin'." I greeted.

A pleasant greeting to the book magician didn't seem to placate her worried cries.

" _W-Who are you!?"_

"Modem." I replied. "Mo, depending..."

Amidst the scripture dwarf painstakingly interrupting the quality time I could have been spending on the floor, and through the ringing that persisted in my ears, I could make out the sounds of our resident Goddess being roused from her slumber. I watched as the half-lidded eyes of Plutia slowly crossed the threshold of the bed's duvet, staring down at me curiously.

"...Why're you on the floor, Mo...?" She asked, genuinely perplexed.

"We have a home invader, I think." Was my response. "Spooked me."

Plutia cast her eyes towards the levitating form of the page mage. Written upon her face wasn't a visage of grief, as I had expected it to be, but rather, her expression contorted into one of peaceful happiness. Foregoing the fact that the paperback pixie was clearly some kind of thief, Plutia mounted a rather hard-headed pilgrimage towards the evildoer in question, launching herself from the bed and digging her slippers rather painfully into my abdomen, jutting my appendix a few inches to the left; the current location of which was going to cause undeniably painful medical problems in the near future.

"Hi, Histy..." I could hear Plutia murmer.

"P-Plutia!" The textbook witch exclaimed. "Who is this!?"

She pointed to me, assumingly, the young man pathetically cradling his stomach and writhing on the carpet.

"...Mo." She replied earnestly.

"Already told her that..." I managed.

"W-Why is he here!?" The hardback soothsayer shouted.

"He lives here..." Plutia replied, as if it were the most natural response in the world.

"W-Why was he in your bed!?" The paper conjurer continued. "What's your relationship with this young man!?"

A thought-provoking question. Me and Plutia were friends, for sure, but I imagined it was safe to say that we had crossed that border quite a while ago. What's the generalised term for two members of opposite sexes who have a completely unromantic and platonic relationship? No. Couldn't be that. This 'Histy', or whoever she was, seemed to be a rather uptight person. Perhaps it'd be fun to see just how far I could push things.

Had to start off slow, though, otherwise it wouldn't work.

"She's in love with me."

A little too fast, there, but I'd still be able to pull it back.

" _W-What!?"_ 'Histy' screamed.

"Mo...?" Plutia responded, equally confused.

I pulled myself up from the ground as fast as someone with an injured appendix could and waltzed over to Plutia. I leaned into her ear.

"Who's this?" I whispered.

"...It's Histy, Mo..."

"Who?"

"...Histoire."

"...Right."

Histoire. As in, the oracle, Histoire. The mother-figure to the CPUs, who I had been quite casually referring to in complex synonyms for the past five minutes. I was expecting a tall, imposing, businesslike figure. Not some tiny fairy sitting on a book. This was really the person holding Planeptune's paperwork together for Plutia? It's as they say; the biggest surprises often come in the smallest packages, except I still had a little trouble accepting that something so tiny was responsible for keeping the city standing.

She didn't look too good, either. Probably would have chosen my words a little more carefully if I had known who she was beforehand. From what I could make out of her petite form, some comical breakdown was inscribed beautifully on her face. One might call it a look of utter disbelief. She cast her eyes from Plutia to me for a good five seconds, the marbles that passed for her eyes slowly widening.

"...Mo." Plutia called. "...I think you should apologise..."

"No, no, let's keep this going." I replied hastily. "This is fun. I like this."

Having ignored the better part of our exchange, Histoire seemed to collect herself. She raised a hand to her mouth and cleared her throat curtly before saying anything else.

"O-Of all the CPUs..." She muttered depressingly. "To think Plutia would be the first to pursue such a relationship..."

Rather gullible, this one. I think it was about time to end the joke before something horrible happened.

"Actually, me and Plutia aren't-"

"Oh no, no!" Histoire interrupted, frantically waving her diminutive hands towards me. "I understand the situation. You needn't explain."

Lady Histoire, governor to all CPUs and de-facto leader of Planeptune, reduced to a stammering mess from a simple joke. I genuinely felt a little terrible, taking advantage of such a volatile creature for my own amusement. She looked like some troubled mother whose teenage child had just entered an awkward phase, desperately attempting to keep her cool while simultaneously dealing with something that was largely out of her control.

"Histy..." Plutia mumbled quietly.

"Y-Yes, Plutia?"

"Mo was just joking..." She explained. "...It's not like that."

A mix of exasperated relief and worried depression came over Histoire like a tidal wave. If only for a brief moment, I could have sworn that she seemed almost upset when Plutia broke the cold, hard truth to her.

"I-I see..." She muttered out. "Then..."

She turned her head to me.

"...Who is this?"

"Roommate." I replied.

There wasn't a better term for it, I thought. Although I'm sure that others would affix some distinguished title on me, like 'vassal' or 'servant', it didn't quite justify the fact that I did little else bar stay in Plutia's room and sleep on her bed.

"This is odd." She remarked. "What is your reasoning behind this 'roommate', Plutia?"

I was quite interested in seeing the response to that question, myself. All I had been given at that point was a short spiel on how I shared many traits with the despondent Goddess. I'd met quite a few people similar to myself, but I had never once thought about grabbing their wrists and dragging them home with me. Plutia mulled the question around in her head before answering.

"...Because Mo's interesting."

"...I-Interesting, you say?"

That didn't explain much. It was nice hearing that I was unique enough to be kidnapped by the governing body of my city, but the details were still cloudy. Why was I 'interesting'? What did Plutia have to gain by kidnapping me, of all people? Omitting my tremendous good looks and magnetic personality, I couldn't think of anything else that defined me as a person.

"Do you have a better reason for this, Modem?"

"Can't say I do." I responded. "She just grabbed my hand one day and..."

Straight-up kidnapped me, was what I wanted to say. I was no governor of the law. Like many, I had a basic understanding of Planeptune's laws and generally adhered to them, but I couldn't shake the feeling that what Plutia had done was illegal on quite a few levels. Randomly picking up isolated civilians and persuading them to live with you sounded like a shady practice. Something you'd see being done in back alleys during a thunderstorm.

"I agreed to it." I summed up. "I'm not being held here against my will or anything like that."

"I-It's just so strange..." Histoire muttered. "Doesn't it feel awkward, having to live with the CPU?"

"She's not much of a CPU, to be fair..." I replied. "Just a ditzy girl in my eyes."

"Even so..." She said. "Plutia, are you truly fine with this?"

"Uh-huh..." She drawled out.

The fact that she said that without hesitation made me a little happy.

"...Well, if this is want you want..." Histoire responded.

She turned to me, tiny arms crossed and with a motherly visage unbecoming of her stature.

"Lady Plutia has given you the privelage of staying with her." She spoke clearly. "Please do not make me regret the decision to allow it."

The fact that she had broken her embarrassed façade told stories of how serious she was being. I may have been looking at this in a similar fashion to how a child would react to visiting a friend's house, but living with the CPU of Planeptune was a big deal. Bigger than I was capable of understanding. I can only imagine how much paperwork beyond the stack of A4s that I had to trudge through was required before I was legally allowed to stay here.

"Alright." I replied. "I'll try not to get in your way."

She seemed placated by that, if only by a small margin. With her eyes still on me, she hovered towards the door before slipping through it stealthily, leaving only me and Plutia.

"...She's scary." I remarked.

"That's only because you were messing with her..."

"Wouldn't have if I'd known who she was."

"...I'm surprised she let you stay here, Mo..."

"Yeah." I replied. "Wasn't expecting that."

As I stood there, bordering betwixt fear and gratefulness, I felt something soft wrap around my hand. I looked back to see Plutia grasping my hand slightly, staring up at me with a curious expression. Amidst the confusion, I could spot the faintest tinge of colour staining her cheeks.

"...What you were saying to Histy..." She spoke in an archaic tone. "...What was that all about?"

The last five minutes had scurried from my memory. The fact that I had so light-heartedly mocked one of the most important figures in Gamindustri left me a little shell-shocked, to say the absolute least. What, precisely, had I gone and said that got Lady Histoire so flustered in the first place. Once it hit me, I began questioning my well-being. Did I get enough sleep? Was it simply an effect of having just woken up? What possessed me, of all things, to jest Histoire by saying that Plutia was interested in me? Could I have possibly chosen a more inappropriate subject?

"It was a joke." I muttered. "Don't get all flustered about it."

It was a joke. Yeah. A side effect of sleep deprivation. Nothing more than that. Plutia stared at me with judging eyes, her illustrious orbs of magenta boring into my skull like a mining drill. I watched as her face contorted into a myriad of expression. First confusion, then acceptance, and, if I were to make a rather presumptuous accusation, a short glimpse of disappointment crossed her face, if only for the briefest of moments.

"...You shouldn't play around with a girl's feelings, Mo..."

"Sorry."

What was that supposed to mean? Was she, in some abstract fashion, implying that I was toying around with the feeling that she currently held for me? Or did she mean it as if to say that I shouldn't forge the opinions of other people? It was a horrible mix that I wasn't quite sure what to make of. Plutia was a friendly, albeit extremely dopey person, so I doubted she would ever go as far as to even consider the prospect of becoming more than just a friend with someone.

Perhaps I was just reading too far in-between the lines.

"Still..." She continued. "...I'm happy that Histy let you stay here, Mo..."

She switched out from her bout of mild seriousness, and went back to plastering that big, stupid, oblivious smile on her face again. She seemed so far away from everything whenever she decided to do that, as if she didn't have a care in the world. That smile was enough to melt the stony hearts of even the most dedicated Planeptune businessmen.

Without thinking, I reached my free hand forward and placed it on her head tentatively. She stared up curiously as I ran a few fingers through her hair.

"Mo...?" She questioned. "What're you doing?"

"Dunno." I replied truthfully. "Just feels like a natural thing, you know?"

She was like a cat. There didn't have to be any push, or any incentive. If you see a cat, then everything else flies straight out the window. You're carrying a grocery bag, or texting someone on your phone? Doesn't matter anymore, because there's a cat in front of you, and that cat is looking distinctly un-pet. Doesn't even have to be your cat. And it's such a pain, just approaching the damn thing and hoping it doesn't run away from you, but there's just some weird sense of achievement that you get if it ends up working, and you get to pet it even just one time.

"...Mo's weird..." She muttered, her head bobbing back and forth.

"I'll stop, if it's bothering you."

She mulled that statement around in her head a little before responding.

"It feels nice, though..." She eventually responded. "So I'll let Mo do it..."

I'm willing to bet all the money I've ever owned that there are a multitude of individuals in Planeptune who would pay dividends to do this sort of thing. Just getting close to the CPU of a nation was considered a luxury, nevermind running a hand across her head. The fact that I went from a lowlife city slicker to Lady Iris Heart's personal roommate over the course of a day said more about luck than I was capable of understanding.

"...Thanks, Plutie." I said.

"Huh...?"

"For letting me stay here." I continued. "It really does mean a lot to me."

She looked utterly surprised that I'd even bothered to thank her for taking me in. Eventually, though, her expression softened, and she stared at me bright-eyed with that annoying smile of hers. It never occurred to me that in the short time we had spent with each other, I had opened myself up to her in a way that I normally wouldn't have any time for. I thought that it had something to do with her status, and that I felt obligated to be as friendly towards her as possible because I was afraid of being kicked out, but I had begun to wonder if that wasn't truly the case.

I wasn't an introvert by any stretch of the imagination, but my lifestyle barred me from ever making any real bonds. The only real connection I had to anyone in Gamindustri were my family, and even then it was only half-hearted phone calls and letters that we ever communicated through. At what point in the last few years had I ever held a meaningful, physical relationship with someone?

I could only think of one person: the half-on, half-off klutz of a CPU sitting in front of me.

I swiftly removed my hand from Plutia's head and shifted my body weight to the side, watching as a mess of ribbons and curled hair flew straight past me, arms outstretched, grazing past my body and gripping empty space. Plutia's tendency to grapple affectionately with barely-acquainted strangers was thwarted effortlessly by yours truly.

"Wah..." She exclaimed, regaining her balance and twirling around to face me. "...No fair, Mo..."

"A full-fledged hug isn't a trade-off for me touching your head." I explained. "Laws of equivalent exchange dictate that-"

"Touch."

What was building up to be an outrageous scientific rant was quickly defused by Plutia's rather sudden decision to exchange an eye for an eye and place her own hand upon my hair-covered scalp. I sat, expressionless and shock-stricken, as the silken hand of a Goddess began unfurling my hair follicles and twirling them playfully, as one might play with a toy.

"It's not as effective on a guy." I explained to the oblivious CPU. "Nowhere near as satisfying if you have short hair."

"But you said I couldn't hug you..." She muttered, dejected. "So this is the next best thing, right?"

"Could've just kept your hands to yourself, in all honesty..."

Despite my rambunctious protest, I did end up taking Plutia's fruitless form of thanks for a few minutes, pointlessly waiting as the literal hand of a Goddess twirled the hairs on my head and rubbed my scalp. Plutia appeared to acknowledge the general pointlessness of attempting to pat someone with short hair who stood a fair amount taller than herself, conveyed through a series of expressions that told just how much of a hard time she was having.

"...Maybe it's not for everyone." She said, pulling her arm back.

"You're way too into getting physical with people, you know." I remarked.

"Huh...?" She questioned, placing a finger to her chin. "But I only do it to you, Mo..."

It came as a surprise, hearing something like that from her. What would an ordinary guy think, if a girl just outright stated that she was only physical around him? It'd be a flag; a notification. Something to say 'I'm interested in you'. But then again, this was Plutia we were talking about. Societal norms and basic mannerisms were an alien concept to her. I turned away from the dopey Goddess, smirking bashfully as my cheeks lit up in a brazen display of crimson.

"I-I think I'm gonna go for a walk." I said.

"Okay~" She chirped lazily. "Come back soon."

I needed some time out, anyway. I opened the door to the room and waltzed out into the glass elevator. I hit the button for the ground floor, having seen Plutia do it enough to get a grasp on how it worked. The entire thing shook before descending quickly to the foot of the sanctuary. I came off with a renewed sense of responsibility as I acquainted myself with how the elevator in my own home worked. The Planeptune guards stationed around the building gave me some shady looks as I moved away from the sanctuary.

I was on the main streets of the city within minutes, mingling in with the crowd without a personal CPU to part the masses like a sea for me. I felt like an ordinary citizen again, tangled up in an insufferable web of suit-clad business workers bumping into me every two seconds. I found myself stripped of the privelage that came with accompanying one of Planeptune's elite, reduced to a member of the common rabble.

I preferred it this way, though. Seeing folk on the street without having to worry about them acknowledging me as some upper-class snob made me feel as if the last few days hadn't even occurred. I perused the wares of second-hand stores hidden away in the alleys bordering the towering skyscrapers and strolled through the gargantuan parks that encompassed a fair percentage of the city's boundaries, fitting myself back into the shoes of the vagabond lifestyle I had left behind.

Unsurprisingly, I found myself outside of the city by the time a few hours had passed, walking through gnarled footpaths and tangled undergrowths as the industrial cacophony of Planeptune faded behind me. I followed a set path towards a small clearing, whereupon an imposing tree sat crooked on a riverbank connecting to a half-hearted stream running gently alongside it.

Almost on instinct, I sat down by the tree and pressed by back up on it.

This was where the whole fiasco with Plutia began. Where she had so lazily stumbled upon a sleeping me and decided to join in. Where I had woken up and spotted a sleeping Goddess that lay just a tad too close for comfort, oblivious to the fact that I was just about to be carted towards Planeptune's sanctuary without any warning on my behalf. The whole thing seemed vaguely nostalgic, despite it only happening such a short while ago.

"Can't hurt to get some sleep..." I muttered.

* * *

I wasn't sure how much time had passed when I decided to wake up; having foolishly decided to take a nap in the evening, previously promising to Plutia that I would head back to the sanctuary at a decent hour. The brilliant shade of blue that veiled the sky had all but disappeared, replaced entirely with a dull black loosely populated by pinpricks of light. What was rather apparent, however, was the appearance of a dopey, half-lidded face hovering mere inches from my own.

"...I thought you'd be here, Mo."

A mess of lilac hair, piercing orbs of magenta and a curious disposition told me more than I needed to know about who was talking to me. It came as no surprise that Plutia would inadvertently find me if I was out for too long, but the fact that she decided to look here, of all places, made me wonder if she was as much of a klutz as she was letting on.

"Plutia..." I muttered. "What time is it?"

"Late."

"Could've guessed that."

She brought her face away from mine and flipped her body over to sit beside me. I didn't have the drive or the necessary cognitive function to complain about her being too close. At this point, I thought, it was easier to just accept it rather than have my effort wasted trying to move her.

"You shouldn't stay out so late, Mo..." She scolded. "I was getting worried about you."

"I'm surprised you decided to look here, of all places." I replied.

She giggled softly.

"You said you liked this place, right...?" She asked. "So I figured you must've been here."

"Nice problem-solving skills."

We sat there for a few moments like a couple from a romantic comedy flick, where the two characters sat down and talked about emotional stuff and gushed about how much they loved each other. Didn't happen here, obviously, because I had neither the incentive nor the absolute audacity to try anything of the sort. That being said, it was rather odd to sit in prolonged silence with someone who spoke their mind a little too often.

"Yo, Plutia." I quipped. "We heading back to the sanctuary or what?"

I felt something wrap around my fingers. I recoiled and looked down, seeing that a tiny, diminutive hand had placed itself over my own. I looked up to stare towards Plutia, who still had her eyes glued to the sky like some dumbstruck kid. I didn't want to bother her, so I kept my hand where it was.

"Mo..." I heard her say. "...We're friends, right?"

"Yup."

Her smile got a little bigger.

"...Thanks." She muttered. "That makes me really happy."

We eventually did end up picking ourselves off the ground and heading back to Planeptune. On the way back, I kept myself preoccupied thinking about why she bothered asking that question. Was there really any doubt in her mind that we were friends? I'm pretty sure that living together and sleeping in the same bed constituted friendship, if not even more than that. I was pretty ecstatic about her saying that it made her happy that I saw her as a friend, though.

Histoire was waiting for us when we got back. I pulled the short straw and got the lecture of a lifetime for it. I wasn't aware that it was even capable for someone to talk so much without breathing. I spent the better part of it with my head down and apologising. I was surprised she let me stay in the sanctuary after worrying Plutia so much, but thankfully, I was back on the glass elevator after it was all said and done.

I went to bed that night hoping that the daily run-ins with Histoire would be kept to an absolute minimum.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning occurred as most mornings did; with a narcoleptic, duty-shirking CPU clinging to me with all the upper-arm strength of an angry God, leaving me alone and helpless against the unwarranted physical contact that Plutia seemed so inherently fond of. Being the narcissistic, impatient young man that I was, I set about resolving the conundrum by way of mild violent persuasion, and in my groggy state of mind, decided that flicking Plutia on the forehead was the best way of getting her to awaken from her incessant slumber.

It worked, needless to say. After a few good flicks to the noggin, I oversaw her as she began mildly stirring in her sleep, which quickly devolved into an annoyed chain of exclamations and grunts, each having more and more volume as the flicks increased in both intensity and frequency. I could've flicked a hole in someone's head in the time it took for the girl to finally open her eyes and acknowledge the fact that she had been trapping someone in an endless limbo of frustration.

Amidst our tangled mess, and whilst Plutia occupied herself with her awakening, I was bemused by the constant rapping of some unknown force beyond the walls of the bedroom. _Precipitation, most_ likely,I thought analytically, the soft impacts of airborne droplets against the walls of the sanctuary lulling me back towards the bed; back towards a quiet morning of rest and recuperation. But the deed had been done. The CPU had already awoken, and the day had already begun.

The colours of the room bore into my eyes such as diamond-tipped drills did into the ore-rich soil of Gamindustri, the vibrant nature of which I had already accepted as a daily occurrence, and would continue to do so for the rest of my time in the sanctuary. In an effort to alleviate the horror, I pulled my attention back to the catatonic individual next to me, who now lay fully awake with her unbecoming eyes, which stared at me in a way that made the walls a more endearing prospect than ever before.

"Mornin', Mo..." She spoke, with a degree of grogginess beyond that of which I was aware could exist.

Just stop what you're doing and imagine that for a second. You wake up, your eyes clumped and heavy with sleep, to the sound of muffled rainfall behind the walls of your housing. You realise that, amidst the tranquillity of it all, you neglect to acknowledge the presence of another individual: a young, attractive girl by your side, smiling without a care in the world as she shamelessly wraps her arms around your waist and giggles softly, sending ripples of electricity down you spine.

What sane man would forego the chance to tease such a serendipitous presence? I placed an elbow against the bed discreetly, lifting myself up just enough so that the still half-asleep Plutia wouldn't notice the subtle movement. I shoved my body to the right so that I was facing my narcoleptic sleeping partner, and brazenly returned her incessant gesture with a hug of my own.

Rather uncharacteristically, and disturbingly quickly, I felt the belligerent CPU move in a way that could be best described as a surprised jolt; her sudden outburst accompanied by the tiniest and most hoarse of sounds that I could have sworn barely left her mouth at all. To my surprise, she didn't shift her gaze upwards to meet mine, or smile lazily and say something ridiculous, as she normally would, but instead widened her eyes in a silent display of shock unbecoming of her usual nature.

"Mo..." She whispered solemnly, barely loud enough to reach my ears.

As if it were the most natural thing in the world, she tightened her grip and moved her head forward, burying it solely into my chest. I, beginning to get my wits about me and promptly realising that recuperating the clingy narcoleptic's attempts at physical contact was only going to make getting out of bed more difficult, began loosening my affectionate hold of the CPU's body, devoting them instead to breaking the inhuman hold that this girl had on me.

"Hey, sleepy-head." I called out. "Mind giving it a rest?"

My pleas phasing straight through her, Plutia simply muttered something unintelligible in meek response. Her proneness to such activities make one think that, given enough time, I'd eventually get used to it, but even having experienced it many times before, I still had a bright red streak of embarrassment running straight across my face whenever Plutia decided it was high time for some good old fashioned unwarranted physical contact. My trembling arms and rising heart rate didn't aid my strife against the strength of someone several hundred times more powerful than myself.

"...Your heart's beating really fast, Mo..." She mumbled, temporarily retreating from my chest. "...Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I responded hastily. "Let go."

And she did, albeit reluctantly, allowing me to sit up on the bed. I threw my arms back and let out a monstrous yawn I had been keeping in for quite some time. I spent a few seconds listening quietly to the faint streaks of water hitting the outer walls, which had only seemed to increase in frequency in the time it took me to wake Plutia.

"...Raining today." I muttered.

Broken through the rising cacophony of droplets against the sanctuary, I overheard a peculiar tapping against the door. It sounded juvenile and desperate, like there was some child on the opposite side begging to be let in. I mustered the strength to remove myself from the bed and shuffle mindlessly over, whereupon I twisted the doorknob and pulled to witness a most peculiar sight.

Dashing past me was the distorted outline of Lady Histoire, who trailed a mighty trail of dampness as the crumpled corners of her tome were cast off in soggy clumps, littering the carpet while the perpetrator clung for a sheltered embrace to protect herself from the rain. While the room became ablaze in a broken mismatch of half-spoken obscenities and worried remarks, I caught a glimpse of the glass elevator past the door, beyond which the utter depravity of the weather made itself apparent. The sky, naturally blue and clear in its opulence, was now cast solemnly against a backdrop of greyness precipitating rainfall to whomever lay under it.

The Goddesses were as such; melding entire cities to their manipulative wills and gearing civilisation towards a peaceful, honorary existence. Such power to command, and yet such a simple premise as the weather lay beyond their reach, instead relinquishing such privileges to the will of nature itself. The thought infuriated me somewhat.

I stared behind me to spot Plutia, now up and about from her normal self, tending to a dripping-wet pixie who had a look of utter disdain about her. I closed the door and set about helping the CPU care for the weather-bitten Oracle, retrieving gaudy towels from a colourful drawer of which I was almost afraid to entrust to our resident Goddess of narcolepsy, fearing that she'd suffocate the poor faerie with the sheer size difference.

"Caught in the rain, Lady Histoire?" I inquired.

"I-I wasn't aware it would be raining today..." She replied frantically. "Perhaps I should have checked the weather channel this morning."

"No worries." I said. "What's so important that you slogged through the downpour just to get here?"

"Plutia?" She addressed.

"Hm?" The pajama-clad Goddess acknowledged.

"I have received a request from Noire." Histoire explained. "She wishes to meet you in Planeptune's business district."

"She wants to meet me...?" Plutia wondered. "Isn't it raining outside?"

"She has a very tight schedule." Histoire responded. "I doubt that the rain will stop her."

"Aww..." The Goddess muttered, dejected. "I don't wanna go outside in the rain."

"Noire..." I joined. "You mean Lady Black Heart?"

CPU of Lastation, the nation most easily accessible from Planeptune. Known coequally as the 'Land of Black Regality'. Although Planeptune was first and foremost for all the latest technology, Lastation wasn't far behind, and a tremendous amount of support for Lady Black Heart had arisen in the past few months. Granted, too, seeing as she seemed to be the hardest-working of all CPUs, with tabloids and newspapers amok with tales of how she spent innumerable hours locked away in her office, quietly tending to the well-being of her nation.

"Wasn't aware you two knew each other..." I commented.

It didn't make too much sense. The laziest, sleep-ridden Goddess of them all, friends with the one who put the most work into her nation? Plutia and Lady Black Heart were a larger juxtaposition than fire and water. I failed to see how they could even vaguely resonate with one-another.

"Yup." Plutia confirmed. "She's my best friend..."

"I thought the nations were supposed to hate each other?"

"The last few months have changed that, Modem." Histoire chipped in. "The CPUs are getting along rather well nowadays."

"Goes to show just how much I know about politics..." I muttered. "So, what, we're gonna go see Lady Black Heart?"

"W-Well, ideally, I'd prefer it if Plutia went alone..."

"Aww... Histy..." Plutia moaned. "Isn't this a good chance for Mo to meet her...?"

"I don't see why Noire would need to acquaint herself with..." She replied, casting a glance towards me. "Your 'roommate'..."

"Not much point in arguing, Lady Histoire." I said. "What kind of monster makes someone walk in the rain alone, anyway?"

The de-facto leader of Planeptune sighed heavily and threw her arms up.

"If it's non-negotiable..." She muttered.

"Cool." I replied. "Let's go, Plutia."

I had no particular interest in meeting Lady Black Heart. The volatile nature of being friends with even one of the CPUs was enough to put me off having to introduce myself to another one. Lady Histoire left us to prepare, a look of absolute horror on her face as she was once again forced to brave the elements of the weather beyond the sanctuary. I shouldered a quick glance at the downpour outside before turning back to Plutia with a pertinent inquiry.

"Got an umbrella, Plutia?"

"Nope."

"...Oh dear..."

* * *

When the world was confined to four moderately-sized cities, it was almost impossible to find oneself alone. No matter where you found yourself, whether it was the neon-chimed columns of roads snaking through impenetrable constructs, or the innumerable alleyways dotted haphazardly with litter and detritus cast off by some ill-reputed delinquents, very few people who dwelled within a nation's borders could even understand the concept of complete isolation. The feeling of being broken away from your peers into a black-and-white vision of what the world would be like if you were the last person alive.

The business district accomplished that, sometimes. Planeptune's separated space, where the charismatic population sunk into the black mass of an office-job work ethic. Often times, you'd see lines of workers clad in black, clutching suitcases and breathing heavily into a phone that they kept pressed tightly to one ear, but today, no such activity occurred. No people; simply the traces of what once was. Cars and bikes were parked inches away from one-another, the owners of which were crammed into minuscule cubicles in the surrounding skyscrapers, the incessant flesh-on-plastic tap-tapping of hands against keyboards almost audible if it weren't for the emotionless, concrete walls that protected those inside from the flooding torrents plaguing the streets.

"Depressing, this place." I muttered, clutching a cheap store-bought umbrella. "Hard to believe you were the one who created it."

"...I didn't want to make anyone work." Plutia replied, her voice drowned by the rain. "But Planeptune wouldn't get anywhere otherwise."

I stood incredibly close to the Goddess. In our vehement pursuit for umbrellas to protect ourselves from the downfall, I had foolishly decided that Plutia would have been placated with me simply buying two of them. Clearly intent on experiencing the candid absurdity of sharing an umbrella with someone, the tiny ruler outright demanded that I only purchase one, and cited me a coward if I chose otherwise.

I humoured her. The disastrous implications of my decision didn't strike me until I unfolded the thing for the first time. I had never gotten so friendly with someone that they were willing to share an umbrella with me, but I felt genuine sorrow for anyone who had experienced such a jaded affair before. Plutia was shorter than me by a fair margin, so one would imagine that keeping the umbrella balanced over her head would be child's play. Imagine my surprise when I had to devote an entire side of my body to make sure she didn't break the distance between us, effectively rendering the tool useless for myself.

The surprising silence that permeated the atmosphere after we left the sanctuary was no doubt due to the rain. There was just some awful thing about it that drained you, forced you to sit back and appreciate the depressing nature of it all. It was almost refreshing to hear a voice break through the sordid cacophony of droplets colliding heinously with the umbrella top. I was temporarily broken from my stupor to spot an individual waiting just shy of an intersection me and Plutia were approaching. Clad in garments of blue and black was unmistakably the CPU of Planeptune's neighbouring upstart city, Lastation.

"You always meet up casually like this?" I inquired. "Figured it'd be a more formal affair when two CPUs have to talk."

"Only for the important stuff..." She replied. "If it's just a casual meeting, then we can go wherever we want..."

"Could've picked a better place than an intersection in Planeptune's business district." I mumbled. "And in the rain, to boot..."

"But we have an umbrella..."

"Yeah..." I managed. "Yeah, we do..."

My eyes were on Lastation's CPU. Not out of any type of piqued curiosity, but rather out of an unseen need to keep her in my peripheral vision. Imagine, for a brief second, encountering a venomous snake. Imagine the fear, the all-too-persistent nature of its intent gaze upon you, and the cold bloodthirst of its visage as it analyses your body twitching and trembling in despair. That image, I think, was the best way to describe the look that Lastation's CPU was giving me at that very moment, as if I were some kind of dangerous apex predator stalking its prey.

Plutia, remarkably oblivious to the de-facto standoff me and the Goddess were sharing, brightened up as we approached.

"Noire!" She drawled happily, threatening to pass the border between the umbrella and the horrendous downpour.

"Hi, Plutia." The CPU of Lastation replied, managing a quick smile before falling back into a mild frown.

I raised a hand in a token gesture of introduction, awkwardly balancing the umbrella above Plutia with the other.

"...You didn't have to bring an escort, you know." She proclaimed.

I brought my hand back down.

She thought me an escort. A pawn. A mere carriage to cart Plutia to her destination whenever she pleased. She had no idea of the awful power I wielded, the amount of influence that I carried in my streak, and indeed, the status that I had so rightfully attained. This wrongful presumption would result in Lastation's downfall. Lady Plutia, so utterly devastated that her close friend mistook me for a mere escort, will unleash her fury and consume Lastation in a horrific display of fire and steel, whereupon the mighty soldiers of Planeptune will trod upon ruined soil as the skyscrapers and towers of the city are brought crashing to the Earth, engulfing the nation to form a new, more powerful Planeptune that will spread to surrounding nations until Plutia is declared the one true Goddess of Gamindustri.

I was a little peeved at being called an escort, although I suppose you couldn't see much else in the soaked individual dedicating his only shelter from the rain to the Goddess of his nation. Such a chivalrous act could only be perpetrated by the vehement loyalty of Planeptune's national guard.

"Huh...?" Plutia exclaimed. "Mo's not an escort..."

"M-Mo?" The CPU of regality retorted.

"Modem, Modem." I hopped in. "My name's Modem."

"Uh-huh." She acknowledged. "And what gave you the idea that coming here was a good idea?"

"Actually, Plutia was the one that-"

"P-Plutia!?" She yelled. "S-Since when did Planeptune's vassals start calling Plutia by her first name?"

"N-No, you've gotten things a little confused-"

"Confused?" She cut off. "Then who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"Mmm..." Plutia moaned audibly. "It's not nice to argue, you know..."

The rain went silent, if only for a few seconds. In my heated misunderstanding with Lastation's CPU, I had neglected to check how Plutia was reacting, an action I should have taken long before we began cutting each other off. I cocked my head to the side, catching a brief glimpse of the horrid mess that Plutia dared call hair. The tangled locks had partially fallen, to the point where it was almost impossible to properly see her eyes. Hidden amongst the tangled web, however, was a bout of sinister proportions, personified in the form of a noticeable frown etched onto the normally rather dopey visage of our beloved ruler.

In the brief seconds in which the expression persisted, the only sound to reach my ears was the rhythmic beating of my own heart; the valiant pumping of which seemed to grow at a terrifyingly exponential pace. I could feel the beginnings of a cold sweat permeating on my brow, and I suddenly became aware of the fact that I had my eyes widened in an unknown display of horror. In that moment, there was an influx of something which I was not aware could have been brought on by such a tiny paragon of innocence:

An unbroken surge of genuine fear.

Time picked up the pieces, and the incessant rumbling of the clouds and the slow patter of the raindrops against the umbrella started back up. The horrid expression of malice, once cemented fully into the face of someone who I previously had thought of as a monument of kindness was now bleached fully by a blinding smile, the likes of which I had spotted on her face many times before. I shifted my gaze back to the Goddess on the opposite end of the conversation, the fading remnants of her expression conveying that perhaps I wasn't the only one to have experienced that horrible moment of helplessness.

"N-Nice to meet you, Lady Black Heart..." I said mechanically, extending an arm. "I'm Modem. Plutia's roommate."

I couldn't feel any of the malice that Lastation's CPU had so rigorously passed onto me earlier, but rather a profound sense of unspoken mutual agreement. She grasped my hand without question, giving a firm shake before our arms retreated to our sides in perfect synchronisation. There was no explanation for it, but in that moment, I felt as if my very life hinged on me becoming quick friends with the woman standing in front of me.

"J-Just 'Noire' is fine..." She replied shakily. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Modem."

Plutia giggled and clapped her hands together like a child.

"You two are becoming fast friends already..." She commented. "That's good to see."

Friends.

For our own sake, that's what we were for now.

* * *

"So, what's up with this whole 'roommate' deal?"

The raging outdoors, aloof with rain, was no place to conduct a sensible conversation. Struck by the weather, our three-man group of despondent governmental Goddesses and vassals were quickly hurried into a short-manned cafe on a street connecting Planeptune's business and entertainment districts. I knew the place; and frequented it in my past life of wandering homelessness. It went without saying that watching one of your patrons appear after a lengthy hiatus with two of Gamindustri's most powerful officials garnished the slightest smidgen of shock from the personnel.

As is the case with wanting to appeal to an individual of upstanding reputation, we were hurried over to a free table with gentleness and kindness the likes of which I had previously thought impossible to invoke. Three perfectly-temperate ceramic cups of that glistening black poison were placed on the table in record time, the distinct hurriedness of the waitress alluding to the fact that we weren't exactly in a high-class establishment.

Hated coffee. For the most part, I wasn't even sure why I came here. The sponge cake that they served was the real deal, and I'd be damned if I was forced to buy the cookie-cutter mass-produced stuff they sold in supermarkets. Thing is, this was one of those places that gave you coffee no matter what you ordered, and to save face, I found myself constantly downing the stuff everyday. Forcing myself to drink it didn't make it taste any better, I found out the hard way. No sponge cake this time, though. Just the horrible, darkened cocoa mix that everyone apart from me would label as nothing less than nectar of the Gods.

"Plutia kidnapped me a few days ago." I explained. "One thing led to another, and now we're best buds."

"That doesn't sound like the correct way to become friends with someone..." The Goddess of black regality muttered.

"I'm not complaining."

"Right..." She replied. "Anyway, Plutia..."

The perpetually-tired leader of Planeptune lifted her head up from the table groggily, acknowledging Noire with a bright smile.

"What's been going on?" She asked. "You haven't contacted me in a few days."

"...Aww..." Plutia managed. "You were getting all worried about me, Noire...?"

The black Goddess flared up immediately. Her words became an awful cavalcade of stammers and interrupted syllables.

"I-I wasn't worried about you!" She stated harshly. "It's just important to keep in touch with each other."

"Gotta agree with Plutia on this one." I butted in. "You sound like you're obsessed with her or something."

"S-Shut up!" She yelled. "Who're you to judge how much I want to keep in contact with other CPUs?"

"I'm her roommate." I replied. "Surely I have to at least partially care about what she's getting up to."

Noire sighed tiredly.

"Plutia contacts me every other day, at least." She muttered. "Isn't it normal for me to get worried if she doesn't?"

"Sorry, Noire..." Plutia apologised timidly. "...I was talking to Mo too much, so I forgot..."

"It's fine." She replied. "I'm glad you're alright."

"Coming here just to check on Plutia seems a little irresponsible." I added. "Don't you have a city to run, Lady Black Heart?"

"The staff at the basilicom are enough to handle the duties while I'm away."

"Still, to leave an entire nation behind..." I muttered. "That's obsession, right there."

" _You're_ the one who made Plutia forget." She shot back. "I'm surprised you managed to hold her attention for so long."

"Probably because she sleeps way too much."

"How would you know?"

"...Mo sleeps in my bed..." Plutia chimed.

Lastation's Goddess looked positively devastated when Plutia uttered those words.

"Y-You sleep in the same bed as her...?" She questioned cautiously. "I-Isn't that a little..."

"I had problems with it at first, too." I replied. "But Plutia doesn't really operate like a normal person."

Noire stared over at the sleep-stricken CPU in question, who had taken to lazily resting her head on the table.

"I guess that's true." She muttered understandably. "...But you better not try anything weird with her, okay?"

"She's the one who does all the weird stuff." I responded. "Don't blame me."

In a display of aptitude that I could never truly recreate, Noire finished off the last of her coffee and stood up from the table.

"I should really be getting back to Lastation."

"I'll remind Plutia to call you once every few days." I replied. "It'll save you the trip."

Instead of taking her leave, the Goddess of Lastation stared at me strangely for a moment. I was reminded of when we first met at the intersection. How her eyes analysed me horribly like some kind of animal. Plutia's frankly rather terrifying intervention saved us from becoming enemies off the bat, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Noire didn't like me too much.

"Modem..." She addressed. "Can we talk outside?"

"It's raining." I deadpanned. "Can't we just talk in here?"

I was under every obligation to defend myself when the situation called for it, but there was some indescribable authority to being grabbed by someone as important as a CPU. A feeling so utterly overpowering that it simply overwrote most of my human rights. That was the feeling I got when Noire reached an arm out and grabbed my own, met only with meek protest as she began leading me towards the street outside of the cafe.

"We'll be right back, Plutia." She promised to the narcoleptic CPU.

The abundance of rain made the whole situation a lot harsher than it needed to be. I was going to need a replacement of clothes after so foolishly risking myself in the horrid weather. Without Plutia, and with someone who I had the inkling suspicion of hating my guts erased the natural barrier I carried around with me on a day-to-day basis, and set me down as the ordinary, wandering vagabond that I was before all of this began.

"...Y-You're not trying anything, right?" Noire inquired timidly, acting almost afraid to ask the question.

"Pardon?"

"You're not planning on hurting Plutia or anything?" She repeated more clearly.

"No." I replied. "What gave you that idea?"

"There are a lot of corporations and businesses in Planeptune." She explained. "A lot of them would benefit if Plutia wasn't in power."

"Do I look like a secret agent?"

"Don't make it sound so cliché!" She yelled. "Y-You can just never rule out the possibility, you know?"

"I'm not anything like that. Honest." I replied. "I'm just someone who Plutia picked up off the ground."

"That's a relief..." She said, genuinely relieved. "It's just... I care about Plutia a lot. She's my best friend."

"Don't worry about it." I reassured. "Got nothing but respect for her after what she did."

"Good to hear." She replied. "...Don't be creepy around her, either."

"What kind of guy do you think I am...?"

"You've never thought about Plutia in that way?"

"Yeah." I affirmed optimistically. "She's cute."

"T-That's a pretty embarassing thing to admit..."

"I sleep in the same bed as her. Can't say it's never crossed my mind."

"...I suppose I can't blame you for being honest."

"Thought you'd be a little angrier, honestly." I replied. "You seem like the type of person who gets pissed off a lot."

"S-Shut up!"

I was almost flattered that Noire imagined me as some kind of low-profile, tactical-espionage type who wanted to further the agenda of some massive corporation. It was certainly more prestigious than anything I had ever accomplished in life. It was good to see that we got that misconception out of the way before she got serious about it. I suppose if one of my friends suddenly got a wanderer to act as their roommate, I'd be pretty worried about them too.

With nothing more important to press, we returned to the cafe soaking and dripping to a just-barely-awake Plutia who was wondering where we had gone. After talking for a few minutes, Noire set about leaving the cafe to head back to Lastation, reminding me to notify Plutia whenever it was time for her bi-weekly check-up. After she had disappeared, both me and Plutia decided that it would be a good idea to stop scaring the cafe's personnel with our mere presence and take our leave.

We continued back to the sanctuary in the same cold, dreary silence we had become so acquainted to when we stepped into the rain for the first time, wordlessly appreciating the transient beauty of the city through a thick filter of blackened clouds and puddled pavements. Amidst the silence, I had the time to think about what me and Noire had briefly discussed in our espionage-riddled conversation outside the cafe. With all that had happened recently, it was almost difficult to address the problem of how I saw Plutia.

We dwelled in the same home, lived in the same room, and slept in the same bed. We were effortlessly ticking off an invisible checklist of deeds that two people in a serious relationship would usually commit to, and yet neither of us had even vaguely addressed it in the time we had spent together. Granted, Plutia wasn't the quickest of individuals, and societal norms were a foreign concept to her, but even I thought that she would pick up on the subtle hints that perhaps she was acting a little _too_ physical around me. She even said at one point that there was no-one else she did it to.

I shook my head. It was just an intrusive thought. All of the CPUs were odd in their own cryptic way, and Plutia was no exception. Her constant need to be in close physical proximity to other people was just a quirk of her personality. It didn't connote any underlying romantic goal she wanted to pursue.

...

And oddly enough, some inane part of me didn't want to accept that.


	6. Chapter 6

In what was fast becoming my least-favourite part of the day, my morning began with a sharp sting of pain, temporary blindness and the unmistakeable feeling of a tired Goddess' silken arms wrapped around my waist. Being a young, impossibly attractive go-getter in the prime of his life, I wasn't going to let some optical trickery get in the way of me enjoying my day, and haphazardly set about solving all of my problems with a quick shift of my body weight, jolting myself upright on the bed and sending a tremendously painful throbbing sensation through my skull.

While Plutia began her slow ascent into the world of the living, I began blinking and squinting rhythmically to restore the use of my eyes. Eventually, the horrid scheme of the room came back into view, and I was once again able to appreciate the absolute garishness of it all while the Goddess next to me yawned cutely and woke up in a more convenient, less-painful manner.

"Morning, darling." I greeted. "Sleep well?"

"Uh-huh..."

"Have a good time yesterday?"

"Uh-huh..."

"Want a morning kiss?"

"Uh-huh..."

Abstinence, in its truest form, garnished the same risk as taking action. Those now rather meaningless words echoed through my head, corrupted and misshapen by the strange happenings of a sleep-addled mind, blocking resolve and giving way to astoundingly ludicrous increments of determination and the strange desire to keep my word. Playful teasing, as innocent and carefree as it was, was a coward's move, invoked only by those lacking the strength to carry out their desires. In retrospect, such a brazen mindset controlled me such as the puppeteer controlled his puppets.

It was that thought, I decided, that guided my hands towards Plutia's shoulders with speed I was previously incapable of. The narcoleptic ruler in question let out a sound of a curious disposition, her eyes giving way a slight wideness as my face was now so insufferably close to hers. In that moment, she had undoubtedly risen from her slumber, and was now clearly beginning to understand the ramifications of her wording. The past me was too groggy and devoted to notice, but at that time, I found no need to reposition my arms to account for a resistance of any sort. I would even go as far as to say that her body relaxed under my hold.

A quick little thing, nothing more. Nothing serious, anyway. Even I, so held up in just having been released from sleep's formal embrace, decided that the lips would be too great a territory for my meagre confidence to encroach upon. Instead, I found recluse in the CPU's cheek, whereupon I swallowed my pride and planted the daintiest of pecks onto the linen skin of who was quite literally the single most important individual in Planeptune.

"Ah..." Plutia managed. "Mo..."

Her quiet address was the one thing my head needed, it seemed. In a hazy fit of horrible realisation, I quickly found myself pondering worryingly, ceasing my terrible decision as the ghastly phantasms of a lucid dream. To my chagrin, however, it was abundantly clear that everything at this moment was very real. I relinquished my grip and threw my body back reflexively, as far as it could go without careening off the edge of the bed.

"...Sorry." I muttered. "Figured I'd tease you a little."

I had come to the conclusion, for the most part, that Plutia was incapable of expressing any serious emotion bar tiredness and dopey happiness. As I stared forward apologetically, expectant of a warm, kind smile and some nonsensical comment, legitimate surprise overwhelmed me as I bore witness to a genuinely wide-eyed, flustered Plutia in front of me; the reddest of red streaks blossoming violently on her fair skin as her mouth twisted and contorted into an embarrassed semi-frown.

"You're flared up like a lighthouse." I commented. "You alright?"

For what felt like the first time, she was the first to break eye contact.

"...M-Mo..."

"Yup?"

"...You see me in that way...?"

I raised a palm in the air and waved it dismissively.

"No, no." I muttered. "It was just a joke."

"Really...?"

I felt terrible. Could've just let the joke slide, but a sleep-deprived me had to go through with the whole thing. In an even more surprising show of previously unknown reactions, Plutia's blush deepened as she began twiddling her fingers together annoyingly.

"...I didn't mind it..."

"Huh?"

"...It was nice." She repeated quietly.

"That so?"

This was some horrific daydream of mine. It had to be. Just a simple imagining of a situation that I could only dream of finding myself in. Was this some kind of subconscious instinct? Was my mind alluding to the strange attraction towards Plutia that I had become aware of recently? Disregarding that, was I perhaps just some hard-headed moron hell-bent on ruining what little social interaction I had limited myself to?

"Stop saying stupid stuff." I eventually said. "It's embarassing."

Plutia's blush faded rather quickly, and her surprisingly unbecoming shyness gave way to her usual traits, accompanied by a sickening smile. I'd defused what could have otherwise been a rather volatile situation. On an abrupt note, and brought on by sheer instinct, I gingerly placed my hand on Plutia's head in a vague effort to reassure her that I'd managed to rouse myself from the near-comatose state I was in mere minutes ago.

"Heheh..." She giggled softly. "...Is it really embarassing if it's just between two people?"

"It is if the other person's bothered by it."

"But you were the one who-"

"It was an appreciative gesture that symbolised what good friends we are." I cut off. "You tried to turn it into something embarassing."

"...You're weird Mo..." She accused. "Most guys would be really happy if a girl said that to them..."

"Aren't the CPUs immortal?" I asked. "Doesn't that make relationships more trouble than they're worth?"

"We stay the same age that we were when we first become CPUs..." She explained. "...I think."

"That makes it even harder, then." I replied. "You'd have to deal with your partner growing old and stuff."

"...How old are you, Mo...?"

"Nineteen." I answered honestly. "Twenty, this year."

"Hm..." She acknowledged quietly. "...That's nice."

"...Hey, hey." I repeated. "You've gotta tell me yours now."

"Aw..." She muttered. "Why...?"

"That's the rules."

In an unrelenting display of bashfulness, Plutia turned her head away from mine and whispered something unintelligible.

"Say again?" I delved.

"...Eighteen..."

"Younger than me, then."

"Muuu..." She whined. "That isn't fair, Mo..."

Had to give credit where credit was due. With her personality and choice of attire, it'd be pretty easy to mistake Plutia for a kid if she wasn't the CPU of Planeptune. The fact that she shared the plight of being a blossoming adult like myself almost surprised me. Before I lived in the sanctuary, back when I used to take odd jobs for a living, I'd sometimes get called out for looking younger than I really was, especially if I was doing anything involving machinery, but Plutia really did take the cake.

"Nothing to be ashamed of." I reassured. "You've done more than most folk your age could ever dream of."

At that moment, and to a short amount of relief on my part, our conversation that wasn't going anywhere important was interrupted by the pitiful knocking of some tiny force against the door to the bedroom. While Plutia remained in the bed and griped about her age, I got up for the first time that day and went to answer it. Once I opened the door, the small form of Histoire quickly fit through the crack before I could get a word of greeting in.

"Morning, Lady Histoire." I greeted to an empty doorway.

"Good morning, Modem." She responded curtly. "May I speak to Plutia?"

"Wouldn't change much if I said no..."

Disregarding my comment, the page pixie hovered towards the bed.

"Excuse me, Plutia?"

The stupor-minded Goddess was temporarily broken from her short existential crisis whilst she listened to the words of her de-facto co-ruler.

"Morning, Histy..." She greeted.

"Good morning." She repeated. "I have received numerous e-mails regarding the amount of requests piling up in the guild hall recently..."

I followed along with what I could. In tandem with satisfying the needs of her nation, a CPU was at often times required to participate in some hands-on mercenary work outside of the city, normally extinguishing a monster threat or something similar. Hunter-gatherers and warriors from outside the city who killed monsters for a living were pretty good at keeping their numbers down by themselves, but that didn't stop monsters from occasionally moving into someone's favourite picnic spot or something, and that's where the CPU comes in. Flexing their muscles in the field was a great way of getting shares up, too.

Being the ditzy narcoleptic that she was, I didn't find it particularly surprising that Plutia didn't do too much of the fighting. Requests from the guild weren't a mandatory part of a CPU's duties, and more often than not, the monsters themselves weren't even that dangerous to begin with. A kid could pick up a stick, start swinging it at whatever they find in the woods and would probably end up doing the nation a favour by completing most of the requests by themselves. Kids didn't get shares, though, and despondent mothers couldn't possibly let their precious children be useful members of society by smacking around some Dogoos.

"...And so I'd like you to visit the guild and attempt as many requests as you can today."

"Okay~" Plutia responded cheerfully. "...Can I bring Mo with me?"

"If you wish."

"I don't think killing anything was included in my contract." I interrupted.

"I'm fairly certain it was." Histoire contradicted.

"...Probably should have paid more attention when I was signing those papers..."

* * *

Planeptune's guild hall was a remarkably small building. For an establishment catering solely to the harsh-built mercenaries of Gamindustri, one would think that the owners would have the common decency to stick at least two terminals on the wall instead of one. Granted, with the age of relative pacifism rendering the hunting of monsters obsolete in recent years, it'd only make sense to lower the guild hall's access to the requests themselves. Plutia had the run of the place as soon as she entered the building, being the CPU and all, so it wasn't like we had to wait to use the terminal or anything, but I could only feel pity for the blade-wielding monolith of a man waiting patiently for his turn as a young girl nearly a third of his size scrolled through requests on the terminal without a care in the world.

"There's a Dogoo infestation in the woods nearby..." She commented. "That sounds easy."

Dogoos were these petite blue amalgamates of slime that had established themselves as the primary monster species in Gamindustri. They were embroidered as a sort of mascot in Planeptune, constantly appearing on merchandise and the like. Some folk had even gone as far as to domesticate the things, finding some undeniable charm in their minuscule exterior and boorish attitude.

"Hate those things." I expressed.

"Really...?" Plutia wondered. "I always thought they were kinda cute..."

"You ever been in a fight with one of them?" I asked. "Those things hit to _kill_."

I wasn't a fighting man, by any means, although stalking the wilderness between jobs meant that I'd run into the occasional monster every now and again, Dogoos in particular. I could swear that every time I clashed with one of them, there was just this insatiable hunger for battle in its cutesy little dimpled eyes. No matter how much Planeptune doted over the existence and preservation of them, I held the firm belief that they were more bloodthirsty than anything else in Gamindustri.

It took about an hour for us to reach the area where the Dogoo infestation was located. Planeptune's location in the mainland of Gamindustri meant that forests and shrubbery were rather common, again contributing to the ever-increasing number of gelatinous mascots roaming the nation. The creatures in question lazily skirted about the forest floor with a certain nonchalance that reminded me somewhat of Plutia, assorted leaves, twigs and seeds constantly being absorbed into their viscous bodies. The creatures, despite in close proximity, paid the sudden appearance of two very inexperienced-looking humans no heed, and continued about their day as if unaware of their impending demise.

"Couldn't help but notice you didn't bring a weapon." I muttered, examining Plutia's form for any hint of offensive arm.

"I use the plushie..." She explained curtly, jangling the toy in question.

"Doesn't look like a very effective weapon to me."

"...You're not carrying anything, either..."

"Are you mad?" I asked. "I'm not fighting."

"Aww..." She replied. "Why not?"

"Go fight the Dogoos, and then ask me why I'm not fighting." I answered. "Those things will _mutilate_ me."

Receiving a look of confusion from someone who actively went out of her way to deny societal norms was an achievement I'll hold dear to my heart for as long as I can. I took a few steps back, distancing myself from the masses of black-eyed monstrosities that awaited me, gesturing towards the Dogoos in a way that hurried Plutia to deal with the problem before I had a panic attack. Lazily, and with no clear stance taken or precautions adopted, she began strolling nonchalantly through the mob of creatures, clutching her 'weapon' in a way that rendered its applications as such almost completely obsolete.

"You couldn't kill a fly with that thing..." I muttered quietly. "What's she planning on doing?"

Coming to a stop in front of a particularly immobile Dogoo, I could make out the bare makings of a smile appearing on Plutia's face as she grasped the two front legs of her plushie and raised it high above her head, much in the same fashion that one might attack with an axe. In a display of what I could only describe as a very half-hearted attack, Plutia brought the toy down on the Dogoo with all the enthusiasm and power of a fish out of water. Instantly, and dare I add, rather frighteningly, the gelatinous mass that once coagulated into some cohesive form quickly dispersed in a violent discharge; stray detritus of slime colliding glutinously with the trunks of nearby trees.

Mildly thought, and for lack of a better term, the damn thing just straight-up _exploded_ when Plutia's seemingly harmless plushy made even the vaguest contact with it. Up to this point, I imagined Plutia was simply joking when she talked about doing any actual fighting. I expected that her definition of conflict would revolve around tea parties and generally having a really good time; not literally shattering her enemies into a hundred tiny pieces with little else bar a homicidal plush doll.

And so I watched, in a daze, as Plutia spent the resulting ten minutes cutting through the Dogoos like hot butter, strolling from monster to monster and reducing them to a viscous mess, all the while retaining that terribly gleeful smile of hers. By the time it had ended, even the canopy above us was caked in the horrible slime that used to be the flagship mascot of Planeptune.

"Full of surprises, aren't you?" I remarked as she returned to where I was watching from.

"...It's only natural to be strong when I'm a CPU..."

Before I could retort with something witty, our conversation was interrupted by the rapid trembling of the trees surrounding us, accompanied by the horrid sounds of some force huge enough to shake the ground beneath us. I turned my head to witness the monstrous sight of a Dogoo, inflated to unbearable proportions, slowly shifting its way through the forest.

"...It's a giant Dogoo..." Plutia observed.

Giant Dogoos; horribly metamorphosed versions of their smaller counterparts, typically acted as a sort of matriarch to lesser Dogoos, commonly seen acting as a guardian to anyone attacking their kin. Despite the power that came with them being so large, they still insisted on that perpetually-smiling facial expression and cute exterior, meaning that they were no less as popular than ordinary Dogoos. Its size, I thought, only served to amplify the weight I felt in my stomach whenever I saw one.

"I doubt you'll kill that in one shot." I remarked.

Without replying, Plutia quickly set about approaching the thing and staring upwards in a display of apparent awe as the great monster towered above her tiny frame. In the same fashion to the rest, she raised the doll high above her head before bringing it down. The gelatinous body of the Dogoo shifted and rippled as Plutia quickly found the toy seized from her grip and plunged deep into its body, becoming little more than a blur as it vanished in the teal sea of slime.

"There goes your weapon." I commented. "Even though it wasn't really a weapon to begin with..."

My words didn't seem to reach Plutia. Instead of whining loudly about losing her doll, as I expected her to, she stood completely still in front of the Dogoo, her head cast downwards in an odd way. I squinted to see what she was up to, catching a glimpse of her magenta eyes, whose colour seemed to pierce through the hair that fell over her face. It was in that moment, I realised, that she was acting quite similarly to when me and Noire had our brief argument yesterday. I remembered the irredeemable terror that I felt just from being around her. In that moment, I had the distinct instinct that something irreversibly bad was about to happen, and opened my mouth in an attempt to stop whatever I felt Plutia was about to do.

Before even a sliver of air escaped my mouth, I had to cover my eyes as a brilliant light engulfed Plutia; a dizzying combination of abstract colours and geometric shapes running across her body. It hit me, perhaps a little too hard, that I should have realised far sooner what this actually was. Everyone in Planeptune knew that their CPUs had a backup form they relied on in times of emergency. Their 'HDD', as it was commonly referred to as. Along with granting a CPU several times their original power, it commonly altered their personalities, as well, albeit very mildly. Citizens of Planeptune, in backwards fashion, preferred idolising Plutia with her HDD inactive, as opposed to the other nations, who took pride in allowing their CPUs to show their true power.

"Ah..." I let out. "...This is actually pretty bad."

I knew what was coming far before the pillar of light stopped twisting around Plutia's body. In fact, I had more trouble pulling my hands away from my face, in fear of what I'd see, instead opting to just keep them there for as long as my body would allow. In that short passing, I could hear a nightmare happening before me. The visceral tearing and separating of a creature much larger than myself reverberated through my head and guaranteed that I would be experiencing nightmares for the next few days, amplified only by the horrid chuckle of some creature that wasn't Plutia but still kind of was.

Silence reigned, if only for a few moments. I almost drew the courage to lower my arm when I overheard the grass crunching underneath the footsteps of some vile creature approaching me at a terrifyingly slow pace. Through the cracks in my fingers, I could spot flashes of black and fuschia, which grew closer with every time I dared to blink. Within seconds, the mystery figure loomed over me, the once-tranquil rhapsody of nature around us ground to a screeching halt.

The figure bent over, and I began hearing the slow, methodical breaths that could have easily been mistaken for that of an apex predator toying with their pray. Through the mouth of a woman who wasn't quite Plutia, a voice that was far too deep to be even vaguely associated with the dopey, narcoleptic Goddess so revered in Planeptune escaped.

"Modem~"

It felt so unnaturally alien, just being called that for once. I had gotten so used to Plutia's little nickname, and hearing her spouting the full thing out in such a carefree way sent chills down my spine. I garnished the idiocy necessary to lower my arms, and found myself face-to-face with the true CPU of Lastation; a terrifyingly tall, indigo-haired copy of the pacifist she so heavily contrasted with, having cast away even the vaguest hint of decency.

"Y-You're-"

A quick flash of red, and I was on the ground seconds later, a swooping high heel having just barely grazed my chin.

"What was that, Modem?" She asked in a sickly sweet tone.

I forgot, for the briefest of moments, that I wasn't talking to Plutia anymore. Any semblance of friendship had just went straight out the window. There was no half-asleep, pajama-clad Goddess to tell me that calling her by her name was alright anymore. Just a boisterous, maniacal tyrant hell-bent on exercising as much authority as possible.

"Lady Iris Heart..." I addressed.

Behind her, I could see the wretched remains of what used to be the monster that took her toy away from her, now reduced to lifeless puddles of heel-trodden gelatin. Amidst the chaos, I could spot the outline of the plush sitting innocently upright in the middle of the carnage; acting as the only herald to Iris Heart's other, more forgiving self.

"You know, Modem..." She said. "It's been a while since you started living in the sanctuary."

"Yup."

"And yet, I don't see you trying to repay my kindness in any way..." She continued. "It's heartbreaking."

"For sure."

I made a motion, far too quickly, to get up from the ground. Halfway through, I felt a tremendous weight on my chest as my body was sent careening back to the grass; a black-and-red glove forcefully pushing down on my chest. In that short moment, Iris Heart had moved from a simple standing position to hovering directly over me in barely a second. I managed to stop myself from shrieking involuntarily, fearing that I'd only make the situation worse by doing so.

"However..." She said slowly, her voice little more than a whisper. "You could start paying me back right now."

"T-That so?"

I'd quite like to avoid speculating what could have happened to me on that fateful day. Perhaps it was some invisible moral decency that locked the very thought of it in the deepest recesses of my mind, or maybe a lingering sense of fear at the sheer emotional trauma of it. I would like to imagine that I have never been truly stumped by someone, but in that moment, it was rather clear that no matter what angle I approached it from, I wasn't getting away from Iris Heart. I could almost feel my pupils dilate when her head began moving towards mine at a hideously slow pace, my mind racing for even the smallest possible escape route. By the time I had conjured the faintest of plans in my head, it was already far too late to act upon it, and I closed my eyes in a rebellious act of final resistance as I felt Iris Heart's unnaturally warm breath on my mouth.

"...Plutia..."

In that critical moment, time appeared to stop. The evergreen canopy above us ceased its incessant wavering and shivering, and the grass beneath us halted its shifting battle against the wind. The once-heavy breaths of Iris Heart became controlled and less-frequent. A few seconds of silence passed, and when I found the bravery to open one eye, I was blinded by an intense light radiating from her body, similar in composition to when she first transformed. I endured the light, knowing perfectly well that I was damning my already-poor eyesight to a fate worse than death, before the swirling geometry and neon blue faded from Iris Heart's form.

I was left looking at a legitimate, pint-sized Goddess whose hair frilled about in messy bangs, tied together haphazardly into a ponytail at the end. The terrifying black and fuschia were replaced with calming lilac and white, the pseudo-dominatrix outfit being replaced by a more family-friendly attire. I stared ahead, towards the face that I was so feverishly backing away from, only to see the half-lidded eyes and dopey smile of the Goddess who I knew all too well. My pleas, through some unknown force, were heard, and I had been given one more chance at preserving my innocence.

The head still advanced, though, and within a timespan shorter than I was capable of measuring, I felt the peculiar sensation of another's lips gently brushing against my cheek. From what I had just experienced, I almost didn't even care about it, seeing as it was probably a hundred-times less horrifying than whatever Iris Heart wanted to do. I struggled to pass words; my throat relinquished of its ability to speak.

"Eheheh..." Plutia giggled, in a way that conveyed little else bar pure innocence. "Payback~"

I'd never been so utterly happy to see Plutia in the short few days I had known her. Was that just some kind of horrible dream? Had my imagination simply run wild while Plutia was slaying the Dogoos? No. That was far too terrifying to be considered as some mere phantasm. I had just saved myself in the nick of time, was all. Although still being held down by Plutia, I at least had the power to raise my arm and rub the cheek where Plutia had so solemnly laid the most diminutive of pecks.

"Heh..." I chuckled. "You're full of surprises, aren't you?"

Plutia leaned forward slightly, examining my face with a puzzled expression.

"...You look weird when you're smiling, Mo..."

I wasn't even aware of it until she pointed it out. Against all odds, and besides the utter trauma I had just endured, on my face was a slight smirk.

"Yeah." I replied. "I'm just happy to have you back, is all."

Some philosopher may have called this situation 'romantic', whereupon the hero overcomes a great adversary and is reunited with his one true love or some such hogwash, or, in this case, the hero overcomes the psychopathic, anger-fuelled alter-ego of his completely platonic best friend of barely even a week. A tranquil few seconds of silence passed, which I used dutifully to lower my heart rate and calm myself down.

"This is kind of silly, huh?" I commented. "Just staring at each other in the middle of the forest, surrounded by dead Dogoos."

"Yeah..." She replied. "...It's kind of peaceful, though."

"...Please don't ever activate your HDD again." I pleaded. "That was straight-up traumatising."

"Sorry..." She apologised.

Another minute or so passed in abject silence. All I really wanted was a few moments to recuperate, so I wasn't complaining.

"Hey, Mo?"

"Hm?"

"...You like spending time with me, right?" She asked timidly. "I'm not a bother or anything, right?"

I stared at her briefly with a look of genuine curiosity. Eventually, I sighed, and brought one of my hands up into the horrific mess of lilac locks covering her head, once again satisfying the insatiable urge to treat her like some kind of cat.

"Pretty sure we already talked about this." I muttered. "Couldn't hate this life even if I wanted to."

Bar the occasional drift into bouts of abstract rage, of course, but I decided to leave that out of the equation.

Plutia's smile grew wider. It made me happy, seeing her like that.

"Eheheh..." She giggled softly. "Thanks, Mo."

"Yeah, no problem."


	7. Chapter 7

"What're you reading, Mo?"

"Lady White Heart's new novel." I replied. "Never got a chance to finish it."

'Romance of The Four Nations' was the latest novella from the inspired mind of Lowee's CPU; an avid purveyor of silence and fictitious texts. At first, I imagined the title to be symbolic, representing the recent bonding of Gamindustri's nations over the past few months, and thought the book would elaborate on Lady White Heart's feelings during the whole ordeal, like a biography of sorts. Not bothering to even vaguely consider skimming over the blurb, I purchased the tome without hesitation, reserving a few quiet hours during my afternoon naps to read it.

To my obliviousness, the book's title was to be taken quite seriously, morphing my inquisitive mind into a riddled mess as I buried my nose into page after page of Lady White Heart's apparent infatuation with the other Goddesses. To preserve her own dignity, I presume, she herself did not participate in any of these romantic hijinks, but that didn't stop my abhorrent shock at her rather open portrayal of the remaining three CPUs engaging in a sort of heartbreaking love triangle after suddenly coming to terms with their feelings with one-another during a particularly intense session of playing video games and not attending to their duties as Goddesses. So set off a brilliant story of heart-wrenching confessions and embarrassing situations as Lady Green Heart and Noire rivalled relentlessly for Plutia's affection.

"Oh..." She muttered. "How is it?"

"It's pretty good."

Things were getting quite steamy. After a particularly long chapter wherein Lady Green Heart, with beet-red cheeks and a faltering voice, ultimately confessed her feelings to Plutia during a nightly meetup to discuss the impact of Planeptune's recent boom in shares, Plutia quickly replied by admitting that she, too, also felt the same about Lady Green Heart. Unbeknownst to her, however, Plutia had already gone through the exact same procedure with Noire a few nights prior, simply not having the strength necessary to break the bad news to Lady Green Heart. In a fit of what I hoped was a severe exaggeration of what Lady Green Heart was actually like, the two promptly embraced and began engaging in acts unsuited to a Goddess' status; the descriptions of which sent me into a haze of disgust, seeing as one of the characters being portrayed was the girl sitting just across the room from me, but was ultimately something that I had a tremendous amount of trouble drawing my eyes away from.

"Yeah..." I muttered, clamping the book shut. "Pretty good."

The last thing I wanted in my mind was a horrifically over-explained detailing of Plutia and Lady Green Heart sharing a night of passion together. I was barely a quarter done with the massive five-hundred-thousand word long work of literary art, but I was already beginning to understand its recent banning in both Leanbox and Lastation, with a few petitions online to get it wiped from Planeptune, too. I'd end up throwing the tome away when the opportunity presented itself, too embarrassed to delve deeper into it and too wary of Plutia getting her delicate little mitts on the blasphemous material within. I could only imagine what a sordid tale of such immoral persuasions would do to her innocence.

"Your face is all red, Mo..."

"You're imagining things."

The diminutive Goddess in question had spent the last half hour dozing in and out of existence on the bed, rousing occasionally to ramble about something useless before falling back asleep. The bed was the only real place to sit down in the room, seeing as all the tiny plush cushions on the ground seemed to be mainly for show. Plutia ducked her head into my peripheral vision, opening her mouth to utter yet another pointless question.

"Hey, Mo..." She began. "Do you have any family?"

"Yeah."

"Where?"

"Parents are still living in Planeptune, I think." I elaborated. "Brother ran off to Lastation. Became an engineer or something."

It never occurred to me that I might want to contact my family. I'd kept in sparse contact with them for the few years I had been away from home to start my career as an 'entrepreneur'. They'd be surprised to hear that I was living with the CPU, although they'd probably think I was joking. My brother would have been pissed to know that I was living the life while he was still desperately trying to climb the ranks of Lastation's gauntlet of architects and engineers.

"Why'd you leave home?" She continued.

"Felt like I had to." I replied. "Probably would've stayed, if my brother hadn't left to do better things."

I raised a hand and placed it gently on Plutia's head.

"Good idea, too." I remarked. "Wouldn't have met you, otherwise."

I didn't get a response. Plutia went all quiet whenever I put my hands anywhere near her. She closed her eyes and bobbed her head back and forth as I ran my fingers through the terribly-arranged bangs of hair clumsily littered across her scalp. In rather obtuse fashion, I almost found it odd that it just came so naturally to me. I'd never expressed a desire to be in close physical proximity to anyone I had ever met; family or otherwise, but there was something so utterly reassuring about rubbing Plutia's head that I had trouble putting into words.

"...It really is amazing, you know." I said slowly. "I'm really grateful for this."

She gave me that look again. The one where her smile faltered for a brief moment and her eyes widened like saucers, desperately attempting to find some meaning in my words. Drawing a conclusion on your own personality wasn't a very polite thing to do, I thought, but my inner workings defined me as a rather upbeat person. It was heart-wrenching to know that Plutia normally didn't expect any sort of meagre gratitude to escape my throat.

And, just like every other time it happened, she closed her eyes and smiled brightly at me, throwing her arms in a crescent arc and catching me in them like some kind of hopeless romantic. It was annoying at first, but that was what most people said about anything addictive. After a while, it becomes a part of the norm. A routine. If I was to experience this phenomena daily, then I saw no reason to deny it. Granted, I'd never actually admit that to her.

"There's no need to hug me for every little thing..."

"It's just nice to see that you're happy here, Mo..." Her muffled voice came through.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked. "Would've killed to live like this."

To think that it was all down to chance that this happened. Where would I be if I had suddenly decided not to take a nap against that particular tree, next to that particular river? I'd still be hanging my arms over the railings of an overpass, gazing longingly at the visage of the sanctuary ahead of me with heavy eyes, wondering how the CPU coped with all that responsibility. I'd still be moving job-to-job every day, never once bothering to settle down or care about the future.

"...You're smiling, Mo."

"Yeah." I replied. "I've been doing a lot more of that, recently."

In a sense, there wasn't anything in the sanctuary that I didn't already have. Cozy beds and five-star meals every day was all well and good, but I'd still have that if I never met Plutia, if only on rare occasions. I didn't see anything wrong with lazing around the countryside for hours at a time and wasting away the day like I didn't have anything better to do. There was nothing physical here that was making me smile.

It was hard to admit, but I was starting to realise that it wasn't the immaculate bedding or the luxurious lodgings that made me happy about living in the sanctuary. I turned my head towards the narcoleptic Goddess at my side, watching carefully as she rolled her head back and forth across my palm and made inaudible little moans every few seconds.

"Luxury's nothing unless you're sharing it with someone, huh?" I muttered quietly.

The ditzy CPU didn't seem to acknowledge me. She was too busy keeping herself awake.

 _"She's really cute..."_ A wild thought manifested. I shook my head and tried to obscure the faint tones of crimson shading my face. Shaded fragments of my conversation with Noire a few days ago played in my mind like a bad recording. _"You've never thought about her in that way?"_ I could remember her saying, albeit vividly. I was convinced that it was just the jaded rambling of someone being overprotective of her best friend. I had never once considered that she could have been posing a serious question.

I didn't have to think about that. This was the Goddess of Planeptune we were talking about. A being of immaculate leadership who lead a country of her own design through the mud to get it where it was today. Opulent immortals who had to consider the concepts of romance and love unachievable due to their inherent nature. Not that I was particularly interested in pursuing such a relationship with Plutia, but it was food for thought, at the very least.

"...You look like you're thinking hard, Mo..."

The Goddess in question, apparently having garnished the willpower necessary to will herself back into the world of the living.

"Yeah." I replied.

Her eyes fell, and she hummed to herself droningly as she studied me with a bemused expression.

"...Probably about something perverted..."

"Don't say weird stuff."

It was hardly perverted to begin with.

"But your face was all red..."

"You're imagining things."

Klutz or not, Plutia was still a CPU deep down. As much as I didn't want to admit it, she was stronger than me on a level that made me feel pretty insecure about myself. The fact that she could take an educated guess at what I was thinking just by staring at my face for a few seconds was a pretty jaunting reality check.

"It's embarrassing, being asked questions like that." I pointed out. "You're really shameless."

"Ehehe..." She giggled. "...Maybe you just get embarrassed too easily, Mo."

"I doubt that."

Our early-morning conversation was interrupted by the papery hush of something being slid underneath the room's door. Out of the corner of my eye, I could spot a faint hint of brilliant white offsetting the room's poisonous colour scheme, decorated wholesomely with speckles of black print embroidered in various shapes and sizes.

"A newspaper?" I muttered, lowering myself from the bed and wandering towards the door.

Newspapers were quickly becoming obsolete in the more developed nations of Gamindustri, but printing companies who couldn't afford to get the word out in a more convenient form were still limited to the ever-fading market of paper printing. I bent over and picked the pile of scriptures up, wandering back to the bed without even bothering to check today's headliner.

"Kind of weird that you still get newspapers delivered here." I commented. "Don't think I've read one in months."

"Histy's always saying that's it's important to have as many news sources as possible."

Being the CPU, it was important for Plutia to keep on top on what was happening in Planeptune. The sites on the internet dedicated to that kind of stuff were hardly biased, but it certainly helped to have a second opinion on what was going on. That being said, there was a significant doubt in my mind that Plutia ever actually read the newspapers whenever they were delivered.

Crime was a concept largely unbeknownst to Planeptune, thankfully. Anything that was even vaguely worth reporting to the public were usually petty thieves or peaceful protesters. Conflict between the nations had all but disappeared in the past few months, so the biggest source of actual news had just been thrown out the window. For a while, it almost seemed as though the news was largely unneeded in a world where nearly nothing noteworthy ever happened. Of course, that came with its own problems. Printing companies and bloggers quickly descended into the tabloid-esque gossip rants that you'd usually see from one of those free magazines at a barbershop, tarnishing the journalistic integrity of the press and rotting the whole news industry to the core.

I was terribly surprised something like this hadn't happened sooner. Being the most powerful and influential people in Gamindustri, the CPUs were a permanent hot topic for all the latest news, and the headliner usually revolved around them the vast majority of days that anything decent was actually published. There, on the front page, in a horrifically varied myriad of colours, was an image depicting a rather large mob of individuals in Planeptune; the better half of which were parted in miraculous fashion to some unknown force tearing straight down the middle of the crowd.

I recognised it immediately. It was a scene from a few days ago where me and Plutia were taking a peaceful walk through the city, the sanctity and privacy of it all being ruined quite spectacularly by the astounding number of people who deemed it necessary to avoid Plutia at any cost. The individual walking down the middle of the parted crowd was quite clearly the diminutive figure of the Goddess herself; a slightly taller, less-colourful individual being towed behind her like a lead weight, a terribly uncomfortable look on his face.

"Planeptune CPU witnessed with mystery individual." I read aloud. "Definitive photographic evidence and eye-witness statements report seeing Lady Plutia, patron unit of Planeptune, touring the city with an as-of-yet unidentified young man. CPU was reported to have been displaying worrying levels of comfort around the enigmatic gentleman pictured lagging just behind the Goddess amidst a parted crowd of stunned onlookers."

Seems I had achieved some level of notoriety in the past few days. The article went on to say that interviews with guards stationed around the sanctuary revealed that I was quite vehemently making my way in and out of the building on a daily basis, and that I, for all intents and purposes, considered it my home. I couldn't help but think that this was breaking several laws regarding my rights to a private home-life, but the hungry jaws of tabloids weren't exactly going to let a few basic human rights get in the way of their next big scoop.

"I'm sure this'll die down after a while." I commented. "Nobody actually reads the newspaper anymore."

Just as I said that, the laptop that I had sitting next to me was suddenly abound with a barely-audible jingle, signifying that someone had just sent me an e-mail. I relinquished the newspaper to Plutia for the few moments it took me to see who could have possibly been bothering me so early in the morning. To my immediate surprise, the sender of my abrupt interruption was none other than my beloved brother, who had taken time out of his busy schedule in Lastation to send me something. No doubt a short collation of the many achievements he had completed whilst pursuing his silly little engineering dream.

 _M_

 _Today was a pretty good day. I woke up, had some breakfast, went to work, did some research on Lastation's new automated assembly robots, and used my lunch break to catch up on what was going on in the world. Unfortunately, I didn't have a laptop or computer handy, so I had to fork over the credits for a newspaper at one of those old-timey stands you see on the street every now and again. Pretty normal stuff, to be fair. Mostly just propaganda for Lastation and tabloid crap._

 _Except for the front page, of course. It's pretty rare to see Lady Plutia out and about in the middle of the day, isn't it? The fact that she had some kind of mystery stranger with her was pretty interesting. What's even more interesting, though, is that the 'mystery individual' happens to look a great deal like my brother, who when I last checked was working in a_ _café halfway across the city. I get that security cameras on the streets don't exactly have the best picture quality, and it's also hard to believe since you can barely hold a conversation to save your own life, but if that's actually you in the picture, then can you tell me how in the hell you managed to get a personal audience with the CPU of Planeptune? I'd kill someone for thirty seconds with Lady Noire._

 _And what's all this about you going in and out of the sanctuary? It's been maybe three weeks since I last contacted you, and you've gone from café attendee to living in one of the most prestigious buildings in Gamindustri. I get that I might be overreacting, and that's almost certainly not you in the picture, but if it is, you need to tell me how the hell you managed to pull something like that off._

 _-Router_

"Awfully wordy for someone who's used to bullet-pointing everything..." I muttered.

Plutia stared over my shoulder curiously, apparently having already finished reading the newspaper article.

"Who's that from...?" She asked.

"My brother." I replied. "He's jealous."

So much for nobody reading the newspapers anymore. There was some uptight executive smoking a cigar in his immaculate office who thought my walk with Plutia was worth spreading through Gamindustri for some inane reason. At least now, after all these years, I could finally fulfil my life goal of surpassing my brother in something that wasn't inherent laziness or vagabond tendencies. I'd be sure to write him an e-mail later detailing my perfect life and utterly platonic relationship with the CPU of Planeptune.

"Ehehe..." Plutia giggled. "You're famous, Mo."

"Appearing on the front page of a newspaper doesn't make me 'famous'." I muttered. "Still, you should probably try to clear this up with the publishing companies before they start installing hidden cameras in the room."

"Huh...?" She exclaimed. "What's wrong with it?"

"You're kind of a klutz, Plutia, but even I know that you're capable of putting two and two together." I replied. "The CPU just so happens to be parading around the city with a guy she seems unnaturally close to. Gotta be honest, I'd be pretty suspicious about it too, if I were the one reading the newspaper."

"That doesn't sound like anything bad..."

"To be fair, I'm just warning you about it before Histoire comes barging through the door to yell at us."

Like the inner machinations of a clockwork monolith, the door to the room cracks open slightly. I witnessed the faint glimmer of a blue-hued eye staring at me and Plutia through the door, before the whole thing was forced open at a terribly sluggish pace; two tiny hands pushing the wooden structure with all of their might. Perhaps I should've gotten up to help, all things considered. Before long, the petite form of Lady Histoire hovered gently towards the bed, a less-than-amused expression etched onto her shrunken face.

"I see you two have already read the newspaper." She commented.

"Yeah. It's terrible, isn't it?" I commented, picking the bundle of papers back up. "Shares in Lowee down a whole 7% in twenty-four hours. What kind of example is that to set for your nation? Before long, we'll have outraged citizens flooding into Planeptune and complaining about how hot it is over here. Simply dreadful."

Share drops seemed marginally more important than CPU gossip. I could only wonder why they had decided to jam it into such a small space in the corner of the page. I wasn't an expert on politics, but I was fairly certain a 7% decrease in shares took genuine effort. It was almost impossible to lose that amount at once, but Lady White Heart certainly found a way. I couldn't help but imagine that it had something to do with the people losing faith in her for the drivel she had so vehemently documented in that sordid novel of hers.

"I am referring to today's headliner." Histoire corrected.

"What, the one where me and Plutia went out for a walk?" I asked. " _Scandalous,_ isn't it?"

"It's nothing quite as severe as that." She replied. "I simply believe that the wrong conclusions might be drawn for anyone who decided to read a newspaper today."

"What kinda conclusions we talking about?" I inquired. " _Scandalous_ conclusions?"

"I-I wouldn't word it in that way..." She said. "Aren't you worried that Planeptune might question the relationship you have with Plutia?"

"And what kind of relationship would that be, Lady Histoire?" I asked. "I do hope you're not talking about a relationship of the _scandalous_ variety."

"I-I'm not suggesting anything of the sort!"

"That's good to hear." I replied. "Because me and Plutia are good friends, and assuming we're anything more than that is nothing short of criminal."

"...Mo called me a friend..." Plutia droned happily from the other side of the bed.

"Nonetheless, I think I will be having a word with the publishing company." Histoire said. "It will clear up any confusion with the citizens."

"Honestly, I don't think it's worth the effort." I replied. "Folk aren't going to get into an outrage just because the CPU's been hanging around with some guy in her spare time. It's pretty normal to have friends, you know."

"Your reputation is also at stake here, Modem." She pointed out. "If the public are to know about you, wouldn't you rather be painted in a positive light?"

"You're implying that my witty charm and good looks aren't already winning the public over."

"Mo's right, Histy..." Plutia managed. "It sounds like you're overreacting a little."

"...If that's what you believe..." Histoire muttered. "I'm going to get quite a few angry e-mails from the Plutia fan club, aren't I?"

The page pixie sighed heavily, lowered her head, and made for the door. I honestly felt a little bad for her, seeing as she was going to take the brunt of the damage if the article left enough of an impact on the public. My morning was certainly off to a great start.

"Lady Histoire really cares about you, huh?" I wondered aloud. "Wanting to protect you from the press like that..."

"Yeah..." Plutia drawled. "She's really helpful."

"Probably just because you're a klutz, though."

"Aw..." She moaned. "...You didn't have to say it so bluntly..."

My hands moved on their own once again. Before long, and complying to some base instinct I had developed, I began gently running my fingers through Plutia's tangled web of lilac locks, watching curiously as she closed her eyes and began bobbing her head back and forth in time with my hand.

"It's alright, though." I reassured. "I like that part of you."

It was too early in the morning for me to even vaguely consider the prospect of dodging Plutia's rambunctious hugging sessions, barely even having enough time to retract my arm from her head in the time it took for her to throw herself towards me at a speed that would almost certainly result in an injury one day.

"Ehehe..." She giggled. "Thanks, Mo..."

I almost hated myself for putting my pride ahead of my desire to just return the hug for once, but I didn't want to come off as weird, so I just sat there with my arms by my sides as Plutia tightened her grip and buried her face into my chest like I was some kind of pillow. I couldn't help but smile when Plutia's breath began to slow and her head dropped as she fell into one of her far-too-frequent-to-be-considered-healthy nap sessions.

"Just falling asleep like you don't have a care in the world..." I muttered quietly. "You're hopeless..."


	8. Chapter 8

"So, you're Plutia's boyfriend?"

"It's not like that."

One of the biggest complaints I had in my short time as a roaming vagabond was my inability to travel between nations. Or, I suppose 'inability' wasn't the correct term. There was nothing stopping me from setting off and travelling to another corner of the world. I had the meagre funds and the drive to wander, with only my own reluctance and poor planning to stop me. Maybe it was because I felt I owed a certain debt to Planeptune for its selfless housing of me; someone who, for the most part, disregarded work as a form of trap designed to lure in the populace and encase them in a never-ending cycle that they would never see the end of.

That being said, I had many complaints during that time, most of which had been suspended since my fateful encounter with Plutia. The scenery was the only thing I still felt it necessary to moan about. Planeptune's towering monoliths and corporate giants were all well and good, but walking between industrialised mega-corporations and second-hand stores everyday was a suffocating experience. In conditions like that, it was hard to imagine that you were anything else but a cog in the endlessly ticking clockwork of society, forced to work for no better reason than because you were expected to.

 _Why not find refuge in Lowee,_ I often found myself thinking. A nation priding itself in a deeply-ingrained culture of understanding and peace, punctuated by its remarkable architecture and unexplainable ties to the past. What would ordinarily have been a bustling skyline of metropolitan glory was a silent garden of innumerable colours and patterns; towering pagodas spaced evenly between flowing rivers playing moat to walkways sidelined by oddly-proportioned trees whose leaves fluttered solemnly in the wind, with a grace unseen anywhere else in Gamindustri.

I thought that as I sat in a room which reminded me strikingly of Plutia's. A random assortment of colours ran in ribbons across a dizzying mess of a room; the intricacy of it all making it hard to differentiate between wall and floor. The walls, adorned in sunset orange, played host to a myriad of hand-drawn paintings, mostly depicting trees and the like. I felt as though I had been sent back in time a few hundred years, seeing patterns and colours so obviously meant to indulge feelings of nostalgic bliss.

I sat on my shins with my hands placed firmly on my knees; a practice that I had been told vehemently was absolutely necessary in Lowee, especially when conversing with someone as important as the CPU. I did what I was told, for fear of what would happen to me should I have the gall to neglect courtesy in favour of gaiety. For the first time in what felt like a worryingly lengthy number of days, I found myself pardoned of Plutia, who had excused herself mere moments ago. In front of me, the petite CPU of Lowee, Lady White Heart, sat in a similar fashion.

"You're sure about that?" She continued. "The newspapers seem to think otherwise."

"The newspapers can think whatever they like." I replied. "It's not like that."

The Goddess of Lowee heaved her head and allowed a mighty sigh. If her recently-published novel was anything to go by, she seemed to have an unhealthy fixation with the personal lives of the other CPUs, especially their completely non-existent romantic pursuits. Mere moments ago, we were discussing shares and politics with the same blankness in our eyes that you'd normally only see in the most hardened professionals in the business. When Plutia left the room, however, I witnessed a spark in the visage of Lady White Heart, before being bombarded by a series of questions that bore no resemblance to the queries I was subjecting myself to moments before.

"You're not even the least bit attracted to Plutia?"

"Of course I am." I answered honestly. "She's damn cute."

"That sounds like a confession to me."

"Interpret it however you want." I replied. "...Aren't we supposed to be talking about shares?"

"Do you even know what it's like being a CPU...?"

"No." I stated. "I hate politics."

"Then why did you come to Lowee with Plutia?"

"I've always wanted to see Lowee." I answered. "It's my favourite nation."

It was hard not to admire the tenacity of those who dwelled within the snow-bleached landscape of Gamindustri's northern lands. Even as we crossed the border of Planeptune, the feeling of no longer dwelling within such an industrialised area was borne to a feeling of serenity that couldn't quite be captured elsewhere. With every waking moment beseeched by neon-lit advertisements behind every corner, it was refreshing to visit a place like Lowee.

"I'm honoured to hear that." Lady White Heart thanked.

"It's not like I couldn't come, anyway..." I muttered. "Histoire wants me to make sure Plutia doesn't get herself into too much trouble."

"I understand." She replied. "I was actually looking forward to meeting you."

"Why's that?"

"The wayward vagabond who Plutia took in as an act of goodwill, now one of her closest friends." She recited. "It's like something out of a fairy tale."

"It could have been anyone."

"Oh, I doubt that." She corrected. "It doesn't take a genius to know that she's pretty smitten with you."

"You're supposed to be a CPU..." I muttered. "This doesn't seem like a very professional thing to discuss."

"It's frustrating seeing you two so close and not acknowledging the fact that you're clearly in love with each other."

"That's a pretty blunt way of putting it." I remarked. "...I suppose I shouldn't expect anything less from the author of 'Romance of The Four Nations'."

I witnessed a drop in Lady White Heart's calm façade. Her eyes widened and I saw the vaguest streak of bright red dash across her cheeks. Her head fell in front of her, and my blood began freezing as I thought to myself that I had overstepped my boundaries somewhat. It was no rumour that the book was written by Lady White Heart, but the residents of Gamindustri made a point of never discussing the novel in public, casting it away into the forgotten recesses of their minds. A guilty pleasure for some. A heart-wrenchingly traumatic experience for most.

"...You read my book, then..." She muttered, emotionless.

"Some of it." I answered honestly. "I stopped at the part with Lady Green Heart and Plutia."

Even now, the sordid descriptions so ingloriously sketched upon those pages made me sweat just thinking about them. The subtle attention to detail. The oh-so in-depth description of how the lone candle illuminated the room and sent shivers of passion down the spines of the CPUs. The pages upon pages of physical descriptions, doting on Plutia's short and petite form and juxtaposing it against the full, complete body of Lady Green Heart. I suddenly felt just a bit hot under the collar.

"Did you... enjoy it...?" I heard Lady White Heart inquire, barely audible.

"It was alright." I replied. "I just wasn't expecting it to be _that_ kind of story..."

"Ah... w-well..." She muttered, pushing her index fingers together. "A girl has her interests..."

From that day onward, I would never look at Lady White Heart the same way again.

"That being said, I'm almost jealous of you two."

"Why?"

"CPUs are viewed as Goddesses." She explained. "It's hard for us to develop relationships."

"Your nations adore you."

"I meant personal relationships." She corrected. "People get intimidated by our positions as CPUs."

"I wasn't intimidated by Plutia."

"You're weird." She pointed out. "Anyone else would have backed out."

Perhaps I should have given the CPUs more credit. Being the ruler of a vast and ever-evolving nation was all well and good, but with the amount of work they were tasked with on a daily basis, it was no surprise that they often didn't have the time to interact socially. It was probably why people like Lady White Heart were viewed as cold, distant people.

"Plutia really is grateful, you know." She continued. "For being her friend."

"Yeah." I replied. "I owe her for letting me stay in the Sanctuary."

It was true. Before that day, I was a nobody. Someone who had never lived indoors since he stepped out into the world. Now, I was making headline news and sitting comfortably atop the highest structure in Planeptune, all down to the CPU deciding on a whim that she wanted to sleep next to me. I now spend most of my days wriggling free from and scolding one of the most powerful people in Gamindustri. It was a surreal reality.

"Plutia will be back soon, I think." Lady White Heart said. "You should probably leave."

"Hm?" I replied. "Why's that?"

"Putting yourself down as 'Lady Iris Heart's personal bodyguard' doesn't grant you diplomatic immunity, you know." She said. "Discussions regarding shares and whatnot are a private affair."

"Two girls sitting down over tea and discussing how much the public loves them." I summarised. "It doesn't sound like something that requires confidentiality."

"Rules are rules."

"Don't you make the rules...?"

Nonetheless, I stood up from the floor. I'd mentioned it already, but I had no interest in politics, and a discussion on the fluctuations of shares in Gamindustri was something I'd quite happily avoid if given the chance.

"It was nice meeting you, Lady White Heart."

"Just 'Blanc' is fine." She replied. "In private, anyway."

* * *

I was a good distance away from the towering pagoda that acted as Lowee's Sanctuary a few hours later, occupying myself on a bench whilst trying not to let the freezing cold get to me. I understood that the nation was at often times criticised for having been established in such a harsh climate, but it was only until I got there that I truly realised the validity of such complaints. We were in the middle of summer, and yet Lowee's cascading landscape still found itself plagued by snow all year round. It was hard to believe that the nation could be so productive in such horrid temperatures.

A phone, graciously provided to me by Plutia, buzzed in my pocket inaudibly. I retrieved it and stared at the screen blankly, observing a text from the Goddess in question expressing immense guilt at having taken much longer than expected while wrapping up the discussion with Blanc. Through some incomprehensible feat, her ditzy nature still managed to convey itself through her tired vocabulary and questionable punctuation. I punched in a brief response of acknowledgement and made a terrible joke about her grammar.

I slipped the phone back into my pocket and went back to wasting time on the bench. I eventually found my thought process drifting back to my short conversation with Blanc. Specifically on her rather adamant statement about me and Plutia somehow being romantically interested in one-another. I smiled and played around with the thought a little in my head. I certainly couldn't blame her for getting the wrong impression. The fact that Plutia hadn't mentioned anything about it to the public despite their rampant demanding only made such a conclusion even more plausible.

"Maybe that is the case, then..." I muttered quietly.

A little off-handed remark one day wouldn't hurt. It was interesting to imagine what kind of reaction someone like Plutia would have if her jaded, non-committal roommate suddenly admitted to having an interest in her. Would she simply retain her dopey, dreary-eyed visage and lazily declare that she also felt the same way? Or would she flare up and babble some incoherent nonsense while grasping her head and averting eye contact?

"I probably shouldn't." I muttered. "She's got enough on her plate as it is."

Make as many comments about her contagious laziness as you want, but her position as CPU still held strong. Although she might have trouble working it into a sentence, Plutia truly did care about Planeptune. Although there were countless other individuals more suited to the job than her, it was hard not to admire how she managed to pioneer a nation that competes evenly with the likes of Lastation. With all the duties she was bogged down with, it was understandable how she was always so tired. Although from what I had heard from Noire, she seemed to be like that even before she became a CPU.

"She's pretty admirable." I commented quietly.

"...Who's admirable, Mo?"

Even in the chilling climate of Lowee, Plutia still refused to wear anything but the strange ensemble of fabric she dared call pajamas. I wore several layers on my way to the nation and still found myself clinging to whatever warmth I could, yet she stood without the slightest hint of bother in the snow, wearing only a thin coat that I had insisted she put on before we set off with her usual attire underneath. Just looking at her, as she strolled lazily over to the bench that I sat upon, made me wonder how she could ward off such a devilish cold.

"I was just mumbling to myself." I replied. "Why'd you bother texting me if you were so close?"

"I felt bad for taking too long..." She admitted apologetically.

"It's fine." I said. "How'd it go?"

"It was boring..."

She said that before sitting next to me and rubbing her eyes lazily. I was told by Histoire beforehand that Plutia didn't particularly enjoy travelling to other nations due to the effort and walking involved. As an after-effect, she would usually appear belligerent and become more prone to spontaneous bouts of sleep than she usually was, which was certainly saying something. A few seconds passed and I heard the muffled sounds of her body shuffling towards mine, before I felt her head resting on my shoulder.

"Hey now..." I muttered. "Even you should know it's dangerous to sleep in the cold."

"I'm tired..." She replied groggily, dejected from reality to an extent that I wasn't aware existed.

"You can get some sleep later." I said. "We can't get back to Planeptune, anyway."

"Huh...?" She wondered. "Why not?"

"The snow blizzards are moving through." I answered. "It'd be a pain to head back now."

Lowee was the smallest nation in Gamindustri. Although holding its own in technological advancements and culture, the climate made for a rather dangerous place to live. The reason for its size stemmed from the surrounding landscape's tendency to jut off in an odd series of hills and crags that made construction a great deal more difficult than it should have been. Not only that, but the sprawling plains that lay just outside the nation's borders were prone to heavy snowstorms that rendered passage largely impossible until they receded, meaning that transit in and out of the nation took time and effort to organise.

It wouldn't be too much of a problem if Lowee had any way of estimating when the storms would occur, but even after years of research, there was no discernible pattern as to when they occurred. On a lucky month, the nation would only see two or three storms, whereas on others, they would start and stop every few hours. Blanc was a devout advocate of peace and quiet, and created Lowee with it in mind. It was no wonder the other nations considered Lowee as an isolated and lonely place.

"It's not that cold..." Plutia remarked.

"Maybe not to you." I replied. "The storms are dangerous for people who aren't CPUs."

"Where are we gonna go?"

"I'm sure Blanc will give us somewhere to stay." I replied. "We'll have to wait until tomorrow if the storm goes on for too long."

I stood up from the bench and brushed off the snow that had accumulated on my trousers. During the storms, Lowee's eternal snowfall would pick up and make even stepping outside a challenge. Plutia reluctantly pulled herself from the bench, apparently having a great deal of difficulty keeping herself upright as she swayed back and forth like a branch in the wind.

"Let's head back to the sanctuary." I muttered. "Before the weather gets any worse."

* * *

Plutia left the sanctuary at a remarkable time. Just as we approached the pagoda that acted as Lowee's sanctuary, the snow had already hindered our ability to put one foot in front of the other, nearly coming up to our ankles in particularly deep areas. I would brush a hand across my forehead and find it caked with the stuff, and I probably could've gotten away with saying my clothes were white with the amount of frozen layering it had accumulated.

Guards adorned in red who were far more resistant to the cold than myself pushed open the massive double-doors of the sanctuary which led into the same over-designed, vaguely old-fashioned series of rooms stacked atop one-another. Due to the nature of the building, each floor became smaller and smaller as one travelled upwards, meaning that the ones at the bottom were used primarily as welcome areas or played host to a myriad of facilities. The upper floors were smaller, and were therefore more suited to bedrooms and the like. The room I sat in a few hours ago resided at the very top, where Blanc would usually be found.

'Usually' being the key word, as the red-donned goddess of snow had taken leave from her personal chambers to grace us at the doorway. Her exasperated disposition in the short seconds before she noticed us was enough to convince me that she was worrying for our health now that the storms had started.

"There you are." She said, walking towards us. "I was worried you had already left."

"Bad time for a storm..." I muttered. "How long has it been since the last one?"

"A few days ago." She responded grimly. "It's been an unlucky month."

Every step I took cast clumps of white snow from my clothes. I looked towards Plutia to see that she was in no better a state than I was. The ankle-deep snow we had to wade through to reach the sanctuary was even higher in Plutia's case due to her being shorter than me. And yet, despite being more exposed to the elements than I was, she still walked forward with a dopey smile on her face as if nothing was wrong.

"I don't get how you can live here." I commented. "Those storms are lethal."

"It'll only get worse." Blanc replied. "You're only seeing the start of it."

There are folk in Gamindustri who enjoy travelling. Climbing mountains and whatnot. Scaling the harshest peaks in the world was no easy feat, and the amount of horror stories about them that existed on the internet was terrifying. Tales of climbing equipment snapping and people dropping further than they knew they could, and still persevering until they reached the top. Doing something like that was possible. Even in today's age of rapidly-evolving technology and safety measures, there existed not a single account of anyone ever surviving the storms that plagued the outer plains of Lowee. If one looked deep enough, they might find hastily-written scriptures of people who felt like they were going to die after only being exposed to them for more than a few minutes.

"You Lowee folk are insane..." I muttered. "It almost never snows in Planeptune."

"Planeptune is too loud." She criticised. "It's nice and quiet here."

The double-doors behind us were closed. The sound of the howling wind outside was still audible.

"Come with me." Blanc said. "We have rooms in case something like this happens."

At the end of each floor on the pagoda was a staircase, the position of which shifting between both sides of the building as the last one ended, making getting to the top floor more of a pain than it needed to be. We were led through rooms that got smaller and smaller as we ascended, to the point where they were barely a quarter of the size of the bottom floor. We eventually stopped at what I was almost certain was the floor right below Blanc's quarters, comprised of a simple hallway to the next staircase. There was a door on a wall to our right which led into a room that took up the majority of the floor, presumably housing private lodgings for important individuals like myself.

Blanc slid the door open and beckoned us in. The layout of the room reminded me greatly of how Plutia enjoyed having her furniture arranged, with the bed at the very end and a small table with diminutive cushions where one was supposed to sit neatly arranged in the centre. As was the case with many pagodas, there was a small sliding door at one end of the room that led out onto a balcony that circled the entire floor. The screaming blizzard outside was made even more apparent now that the walls had gotten thinner.

"There's only one bed." Blanc stated. "Sorry if it's a problem. This room is only meant for one person."

"That's fine." I replied. "I don't think I've had a bed to myself for a few weeks now..."

I briefly looked over the room and turned my attention back to Blanc, whose cheeks had begun flaring up as she held both hands to her face.

"Y-You..." She stammered out. "Sleep together...?"

"Just for the sake of convenience." I replied. "Don't get the wrong idea."

"...Modem." She said. "Can we speak outside for a minute?"

I looked back and exchanged glances with Plutia, who shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly before following Blanc back out into the hallway. The door slid shut, and I was standing alone, without protection, in front of a Goddess whom I may have just angered. She sighed heavily and brought a hand to her face, her expression connoting nothing less than pure disappointment.

"I knew you two were close..." She began. "But not _that_ close."

"I told you not to get the wrong idea."

"The wrong idea...?" She repeated. "What am I missing, exactly?"

"Plutia's about as shameless as they come."

"I can't argue with that..." She muttered, suppressing a giggle. "But _the same bed?_ Seriously?"

"What's so funny about it?"

"I just can't get how you can say 'I'm not Plutia's boyfriend' with a straight face." She answered. "You guys act like a married couple."

She moved forward and threw a fist across my shoulder like an amused parent. It took a fair few minutes for her to stop giggling.

"Just go for it, you idiot." She advised brazenly.

"It's not like that."

"Whatever you say, Modem."

Saying that, she walked towards the staircase leading to her room, leaving me alone in the hallway. I simply stood, dumbfounded for a few moments, at the sheer determination and adamant pressuring of Blanc. I listened closely as her dainty footsteps rose through the staircase and tapped rhythmically across the room directly above me, mulling over the conversation in my head. I sighed heavily in the following moments, resolving to collect my thoughts when I was less liable to keel over from the sheer exhaustion of traversing Lowee's harsh landscape.

I slid open the door to the bedroom once more, whereupon I noticed a hapless Plutia already taking full advantage of the bed and dozing away merrily under the covers. I stood there for longer than I cared to admit, suddenly conscientious of the fact that I was living with her. This girl, who so brazenly took me in one day, and who treated me like a close friend despite only having known me for a few minutes, was sleeping ever-so-soundly in the same bed that I would inadvertently find myself on in a few minutes' time.

As I walked towards the bed, I could notice the tiny flecks of white snow dancing among her lilac hair, sparkling ceremoniously from the reflection of the ceiling light in the centre of the room. Next to the bed, a generous amount of snow was melting straight into the wooden floors and most likely seeping through the infrastructure. Plutia must have brushed herself off before getting into the bed. I struggled to imagine how she could sleep in the clothes she had just subjected to the elements no more than five minutes prior to arriving in the sanctuary.

"...Idiot." I muttered sarcastically. "You'll get a cold, sleeping like that."

Being a CPU almost certainly meant that she would never find herself burdened by such an illness, but I felt the need to voice my concerns nonetheless.

I, too, brushed the snow from my clothes and made my way over to the other side of the bed, grimacing heavily at having to sleep in clothes that were far too damp to even be considered usable anymore. I took off my jacket, at the very least, seeing as it bore the brunt of the weather outside, before throwing myself onto the bed. As expected of a room reserved specifically for a CPU, it was about as comfortable as the one back in Planeptune. I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind of the storm outside and Blanc's enthusiastic pep-talk, deciding to contemplate matters after I had gotten some sleep.

* * *

I awoke again at a time that I wasn't particularly used to seeing. The room had gone black, illuminated only by the faint glow of the moon in the distance, which shone through the doorway at the end of the room which led out onto the balcony of the pagoda. Among one of the first things I noticed was that the howling storm no longer permeated in my eardrums like some bad tune, and the room had decreased in temperature significantly, to the point where I had to wonder if it was the reason I had woken up in the first place.

I estimated it to be just past midnight as I groggily began shuffling off the bed judging by the time that I had decided to get some sleep and by the darkness of the room. What interested me, however, wasn't the question of the time, but rather why the balcony door had ominously found itself ajar in the middle of the night. I stared back at the bed, worrying that I had roused Plutia from her slumber in my jeering and rather noisy dismounting of the bed, only to see that she was absent from where I had saw her previously. The covers laid askew from where she had presumably gotten up for whatever reason.

I made my way over to the balcony door, with the express intent to close it so that I could go back to sleeping. Just as I was about to place a hand on the over-decorated door, however, I spotted the silhouette of some individual standing by the balcony, with short arms extended and tiny fingers grasping the railings that were lined around the outside. _At least I found out where Plutia went,_ I thought to myself lazily, watching silently as the Goddess of Planeptune resided peacefully before the balcony, her head turning occasionally to stare at nothing in particular. Eventually, her head turned backwards, and her eyes found mine.

"Mo...?" She muttered. "...Did I wake you up?"

"Yeah." I muttered, more tired than I cared to admit. "What are you doing out here?"

"The storm stopped." She replied. "I wanted to see what Lowee looked like from the sanctuary."

She beckoned me over and I groggily waltzed my way towards the railing. As was per usual for sanctuaries, Lowee's pagoda had a tremendous view over the rest of the nation. Lowee's in particular being placed on a short incline that acted as the middle-point from everything constructed afterwards. Usually, the skies would be plagued with clouds and snow, obscuring vision and giving the area quite a depressing atmosphere. Tonight, however, the snow had ceased, perhaps only for a few moments, and the skies were free of clouds for what felt like the first time in ages.

The stars and constellations of the world beyond Gamindustri were left strewn out beyond the cosmos, shimmering in a way I had never quite seen before. Planeptune was host to a wide variety of pollution, meaning that even on clear nights, the stars remained obscured. Lowee was a nation that kept high-industry pollution to an absolute minimum, meaning that nature was largely left to its undiluted, unpolluted devices. The expanse of the nation stretched out into the horizon, whereupon it was joined by a dazzling display of stars in the night sky, without the plague of blizzards and the incessant droning of intense snowfall to drown it out.

"Looks pretty good." I summarised. "I doubt you'd ever see something like that in Planeptune."

"It's so pretty..." Plutia marvelled. "...I guess this is why travellers always want to come here."

She stared into that black abyss above us with a zeal I had never seen before. Her naturally ditzy and narcoleptic disposition had been reduced significantly, and I was left staring at someone whom I could vaguely attribute the title of leader to. The night was deathly silent, and yet I felt no immediate awkwardness at sharing this particular moment with the girl who so brazenly decides to hug me at every available opportunity.

"...Plutia." I muttered quietly. "You and I are friends, aren't we?"

For the first time since we had met, Plutia looked at me with a semblance of meagre acknowledgement, looking almost offended that I had dared to raise the question. She made brief eye contact before smirking and returning her gaze to the night sky.

"...I asked you that question before, Mo." She replied. "You told me we were."

I had almost forgotten about that. When we were returning to the sanctuary, I heard the vaguest quiver of fear in Plutia's voice as she inquired solemnly about our relationship, wondering pointlessly if I considered her as much of a friend as she did. I barely hesitated in saying that she was the closest friend I'd had in a while. It was still difficult forgetting how happy she seemed after that. I felt like an idiot for having to ask.

"...You're smiling again, Mo..."

I knew that already.

"It's nice to smile, sometimes." I replied.

Plutia stared at me, perplexed, before breaking into a smile herself.

"It looks better when you smile." She said. "You should do it more often."

"Yeah..." I agreed.

In that moment, there were limitless things that could make me smile. The snow-bleached cascade of Lowee and the stars, or the seamless wind that blew not too strong. I had plenty of reasons to sit back and smile for once. But in that moment, the only thing that made me smile was the lilac-hued, dozy-eyed girl who hung her arms across the railings lazily and stared into the sky as if nothing bothered her, silently examining the flecks of light in the sky and the turquoise visionary of the aurora in the distance, whose kind words and actions led me to a life I'm not sure I could have ever attained no matter how hard I may have worked.

"Maybe I should..." I muttered. "I've got plenty of reasons to."


	9. Chapter 9

Through the thick cascade of clouds in the distance, the sun shone through the thin paper-like walls of the pagoda, sending dimmed rays into the building amidst the waking ambience of birds perched upon the spires layering its many balconies. I stirred before I bothered opening my eyes, and noticed a great deal of resistance when moving to one side. I opened a sleep-addled eye to spot Plutia's horrid tangles of lilac hair brushing up against my cheek. If I listened carefully, I could hear the sounds of her shallow breathing as she lay still next to me. I pulled my arm and allowed a thin streak of red to cross my face as it became quite apparent that it had been laying under Plutia the entire night, before pushing myself up and stretching my arms, yawning heavily and listening dismally to the quiet ambience of the pagoda.

I removed myself from the bed as quietly as I could, and walked over to the thin sheet door leading out to the balcony. Tentatively, I slipped my fingers between the gap and pushed open the door, squinting my eyes as the whole might of the sun bore down on me. The sky was surprisingly clear, considering Lowee's notorious snowfall, and the thick coating of white that once littered the pathways of the nation had melted overnight. Most importantly, though, the blizzard had stopped, which meant me and Plutia wouldn't have to stay here any longer. I paced across the balcony for a few moments, abhorrently surprised and terrified beyond reason as I heard a voice boom at me from above.

"Modem?" I heard.

I placed both hands on the balcony and leaned my head over, turning it to face the platform above me.

"Is that you, God?" I wondered aloud.

To my immediate chagrin, the face I saw staring back at me wasn't one of divine origin. At least, not of the omnipotent kind, anyway. The shaggy-haired and baggy-eyed visage of Blanc looked down at me from the floor above, the slur of her voice and her dismal appearance making me wonder if she had gotten any sleep at all.

"You're up early." She commented. "I thought you were a lazy guy."

"I had a good night's sleep." I replied.

"I wish I could say the same." She said, before yawning. "I was up way too late last night."

"The opulent Lady White Heart, staying up past her bedtime." I joked. "How irresponsible."

"Don't get cocky just because I can't reach you."

She twiddled her thumbs back and forth on the balcony, clearly having a hard time keeping herself awake.

"I heard someone talking down there last night." She pointed out. "What was that all about?"

"Me and Plutia had a talk."

"Oh..." She muttered, as if she understood. "A little romantic heart-to-heart, huh?"

"Hardly romantic."

"Jeez, you're such a wuss." She insulted. "Plutia's never gonna make a move herself, you know."

"Who said I was ever interested in 'making a move?'"

"Me." She replied bluntly. "It's pretty obvious, you know."

"I'm not interested in that sort of thing."

"Pfft." She scoffed brazenly. "Don't give me that crap."

She pulled her head back from the balcony for a few seconds.

"I've gotta go make myself look more presentable." She said. "I'll see you when you get downstairs."

"Fine by me."

She disappeared from my view, and I heard the sliding door on the floor above open and close, leaving me by myself. I continued hanging my arms over the balcony, dejected and tired from that positively damaging bombardment Blanc had just thrown at me. Someone of her melancholic, hopelessly-romantic disposition would obviously jump to conclusions upon seeing people with relationships like me and Plutia, and if her novel was anything to go on, it seemed to be something she took some kind of personal interest in to an almost unhealthy extent.

Still, the thought of it had me thinking. I could still remember the first time Plutia so brazenly opened her arms and threw them around me like we were starstruck sweethearts. It was terribly annoying, and I found myself prying Plutia away from me more times than I cared to remember. I couldn't deny, though, that after a while, I began to accept it as the norm. It had been quite a while since I had actively tried to avoid her brutal attempts at physical contact, and when it did happen, I didn't feel the same resentment that came upon me when it first happened.

I still remembered how utterly formal I was when we first met by the river, throwing out pleasantries left and right and desperately hoping I wasn't infringing on her free time in any way. Every attempt at formality I made was quickly shot down with deadly precision, with Plutia closing the gaps between us at a rate I wasn't very comfortable with. Now, I treat her like an old friend, constantly doting and scolding her for being so unprofessional as a CPU. Instead of her dopey, smiling face leaving me so annoyed every time she looked at me, I had to hold back the urge to smile whenever she did anything of the sort.

"Can't blame Blanc for getting the wrong impression..." I muttered to myself.

Just as I said that, the door behind me slid open, making me wonder if the hot-headed Goddess in question had come down to pay a visit. I turned my head, expecting to see a short, shaggy-haired lady of snow confronting me on the balcony, but quickly found myself confronted by the lilac-haired, dreary-eyed CPU of Planeptune herself, who yawned greatly and squinted her eyes at the morning sun as she attempted vehemently to keep her attention on me without falling back to sleep.

"Mo...?" She greeted quietly. "...You're up early."

The pajama-clad Goddess of sleep rubbed her eyes and yawned abrasively, her frighteningly-bright fuchsia irises reflecting the early morning's eerie glow. She waddled forward on shaky ankles, still brushing off the harsh and debilitating guise of laziness that accompanied her every movement. We made eye contact for the briefest of moments, and she mustered the strength to bless me with a smile whose brightness matched even the sun's.

"Figured I'd watch the sunrise." I replied. "Wanna join me?"

She wobbled herself unsteadily towards the balcony, taking one particularly brazen step and letting out a sound of mild surprise as she was sent toppling towards the ground. I threw out my arms and managed to stop her descent mere inches before she made contact with the floor. I let out a sigh of relief before pulling her up from the ground, whereupon she giggled softly and saw an opportunity for one of her sudden instances of physical affection, wrapping her arms around my waist and digging her face firmly into my chest.

"Ehehe..." She giggled. "You're always there for me, Mo..."

"Stop being so reckless." I replied. "You're bad enough when you're wide awake, nevermind in the mornings..."

Maybe it was the sleep talking, but it had only just come to my attention how small Plutia actually was. She was a year younger than me; probably even a bit older than that, but she could easily pass for someone four or five years younger than she actually was. The fact that I had to tilt my head just to see the short, jutting imperfections of her hair was something that I just hadn't noticed before.

As I thought that, she pulled her head from my chest and looked up at me. Even though her height and weight defied the proportions of what would normally be expected from someone her age, her terrifyingly bright, piercing eyes never failed to make me flinch whenever we made eye contact. Perhaps it was the simple, striking nature of it that rubbed me the wrong way, or perhaps it was that they were the only remnant of Plutia's larger, less-forgiving form; the memories of which I still had trouble suppressing.

"...Mo's not throwing me off, this time..."

"Hm?"

"You usually tell me to stop hugging you by now..."

"I've gotten used to it." I replied. "...Why do you do it so much, anyway?"

"Hm..." She hummed. "Because I like you, Mo."

There she went again, with that horrific deadpan snark of hers. It was admirable, I thought, that someone could just blatantly admit to having a certain attraction to someone else. There was no other reason why a girl would throw herself into the arms of someone she had only known for a few weeks. I found myself sighing, and raising a hand to place gently onto the mussy hair of the sleep-addled Goddess in front of me.

"Yeah." I muttered. "I like you too."

My heart tightened. Although Plutia had done this so many times in the past, it felt as though she was hugging me for the first time. Ever since yesterday, I couldn't help but think that I was missing out on some perfect opportunity whenever it happened. It took me long enough to realise, but I had gone from completely resenting Plutia's intimate attempts at affection to almost looking forward to them whenever we spoke. It was a sad thing to admit, but Plutia was the closest friend I'd ever had since I left home, and yet I had such a hard time actually telling her that.

It was because I wanted something more from her. It didn't quite hit me at first, but the reason I avoided labelling her as a friend when we first met was because I was too afraid to consider that 'friends' was all we were ever going to be. Whoever I worked with during my time as a vagabond was always a friend, even if we only talked rarely, and I had no trouble admitting that, but as soon as Plutia rolled around, I regretted even mentioning the word around her, because whenever I did, I was cementing our position as just that. 'Friends.'

 _"...You idiot, Blanc..."_ I thought. _"Putting ideas in my head..."_

"...Your heart's beating really quickly, Mo..."

I was snapped out of my daze. Plutia stared up at me with a curious expression, wondering why I was getting worked up over nothing in particular.

"It's nothing." I replied. "Must be the weather."

She seemed to take that as an appropriate excuse and released me from her grip, in what was probably the first time she broke the hug herself. Her mouth cracked into the sweet little smile she always had on as she began backstepping clumsily into the room.

"...We're gonna head back to Planeptune today, right?" She asked.

"Yeah." I replied. "The blizzards have stopped, so it's safe to leave the nation."

"I can't wait to get back..." She drawled out. "It's not the same sleeping in another bed..."

"Is that all you ever think about?"

It was cute, though. Those little mannerisms of hers brought a smirk to my face.

* * *

"Modem." A voice rung out. "Snap out of it."

I flinched as something snapped in front of my face. I fell backwards slightly, bringing an arm back and pushing my hand against the wooden wall behind me to keep my balance. I looked around hastily, having forgotten that the last thirty minutes had transpired. I found myself in a precariously small space, with two small openings at either side of me and the rest covered in a thick wooden wall. I checked the door closest to me to see Blanc with one hand hovering in front of her, looking mildly displeased with my nonchalant disregarding of whatever she was saying.

"You look happy."

"What's wrong with that?"

"You never look happy." She answered. "What's that all about?"

"It's nothing." I said. "I'm just in a good mood, is all."

"You finally told Plutia how you feel, then."

My eyes widened. I jerked my head to the right, letting loose a sigh that I wasn't quite aware I was holding in when I saw the narcoleptic Goddess in question sleeping peacefully next to me. I turned back to Blanc looking mildly annoyed.

"No, I didn't."

"Huh." She replied. "Implying that you're into her now?"

"What if I am?" I asked. "...We've only known each other for a week, Blanc."

"Are you kidding?" She said, surprised. "She's better friends with you than any of the other CPUs. You two haven't been separated since you met."

We were on a carriage. I was starting to remember what I had done before I started spacing out. Blanc had transportation prepared for us as soon as we were ready to leave the nation. A horse and carriage seemed like a remarkably old-fashioned way to travel, but Blanc explained that it was justified as Lowee's climate made cars extremely dangerous to drive, necessitating a need for a more easily controllable mode of transport. Slower, sure, but at least it would get us their in one piece.

"Why're you so interested in this, anyway?" I asked.

"You read my book, didn't you?"

Calm, collected, and well-mannered. Traits befitting a Goddess, which Blanc had in spades. Out of all the CPUs, she was clearly the most level-headed. It was quite well known that she preferred the company of herself, often spending her free time in her room reading novels. Despite the good reputation that Blanc got, however, it became pretty apparent with the release of her novel that she was a rampant hopeless romantic who obsessed over the concept of developing relationships. For my own good, I didn't get too far into her novel, but there was some kind of overarching romantic plot surrounding the CPUs, even if it was buried deep in all of the more unmentionable content.

"They say love is best experienced by yourself."

"I'm not interested in that sort of thing." She replied. "How is it, anyway?"

"Huh?"

"What does it feel like?" She asked. "Being in love?"

"It's not love." I replied. "We're friends."

"That's depressing. I thought you were making progress."

I turned my head back to Plutia, who had slouched over and placed her head on my shoulder, still sleeping despite the conversation happening right next to her. Damningly, I found myself smirking a little at the predicament. As I turned back, Blanc also seemed encapsulated in the strange Goddess' display of narcolepsy.

"It's nice to see that she met someone like you."

"Why's that?"

"We all have nations to run, so it's not like we don't see people everyday." She explained. "But Plutia hardly interacts with her nation at all."

Histoire was the one responsible for most of Planeptune's CPU duties. Plutia was in charge of increasing shares for the nation, but that wasn't particularly hard due to her relatively laid-back nature and desire to let her city grow. Because of her lack of participation, she didn't see as many people as the other CPUs. It made me wonder if all she really did was sleep all day and occasionally set out to complete guild requests.

"How did you and Plutia meet, anyway?"

"She kidnapped me during my nap one day."

"...R-Right..."

"Not walking away was one of the best decisions I ever made, though." I continued. "I owe her a lot."

"You could make a move on her." Blanc pointed out. "I'm sure she'd appreciate that."

"I don't owe her _that_ much."

"Can't say I didn't try..."

She seemed reluctant to give up on her incessant desire for romance, but she seemed to find the strength to pull herself away from the carriage.

"I'll send the carriage off." She said. "I'll see you two lovebirds later."

She walked ahead and spoke with the carriage driver, before walking in the direction of Lowee's sanctuary. Me and her exchanged a quick wave before the wheels of the primitive vehicle began to turn. The jolt seemed to be enough to rouse Plutia from her slumber, as her eyes flickered open abtruptly. She stretched her arms and yawned, before returning to the smile that never seemed to leave her face. She looked around confusingly, apparently not knowing where we were.

"...We're heading back to Planeptune?" She wondered aloud.

"Yeah." I replied. "Shouldn't take too long. A few hours, at the most."

"Aw..." She moaned. "I wish I'd never woken up..."

I placed a hand on her head and began running it through her hair.

"...You're doing that a lot more now, Mo..."

"I can't help myself." I replied. "You're really cute."

She lowered her head, and I could make out the faint beginnings of a blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Don't say embarassing stuff..." She said meekly.

It was strange how normal this was becoming. In retrospect, I would never actually act like this towards girls. It would always be too personal or too forward, I thought, to have this kind of relationship with someone. Perhaps it was in her dopey, barely caring personality that allowed me to get away with so much. I had no problem admitting that Plutia was cute, and it somehow made me even happier whenever I managed to get a reaction out of her. Blanc's aggressive matchmaking tendencies were something that I had just brushed off at first, attributing it to the ramblings of someone far too interested in the concept of romance.

And, despite that, it was starting to have an impact on me. It was true, that me and Plutia had barely been separated since we met each other on the riverbank, and our strange practise of living together was something that I hadn't quite understood the ramifications of until the papers were up in arms about how the CPU of Planeptune had found herself a boyfriend. Even now, we continue to spend every day together like some married couple.

"Mo...?" Plutia said. "You look like you're focusing really hard on something..."

"I'm just thinking." I replied. "...Hey, Plutia?"

"Hm?"

"What do you think about me?"

She cocked her head, puzzled.

"You...?" She wondered.

She sat for a few seconds, pondering my question.

"...It feels like we've known each other for a lot longer than we actually have..."

Less than a month seemed like a tremendously short amount of time. But in less than half of that, I've experienced what is quite possibly the most interesting period of my life so far, dabbling with three of the most powerful figures in Gamindustri and treating one in particular like an old friend I hadn't seen in years.

"I can't really describe it too well..." She continued. "...But you mean a lot to me, Mo."

She flashed a smile at me. A smile that demonstrated nothing short of genuine happiness at the person in front of her.

"...Yeah." I replied. "You mean a lot to me too, Plutia."

She giggled. It was a sound that made my heart flutter whenever I heard it. Just knowing that that was enough to make her happy put a smile on my face.

* * *

We rolled into Planeptune a few hours later. It was hard not to notice when the barren, snow-draped hillscapes of Lowee began making way for the rolling hills and lush plains of Planeptune. The sun began its escapement from the clouds and beamed down onto the carriage, making me consider the ramifications of wearing far too many layers for the journey. Understandably, we weren't taken into the city itself, as seeing the CPU dozing off next to the already-notorious mystery individual from the papers would do nothing but create an uproar. I snapped my fingers across Plutia's face as we arrived at the outskirts of the city, waking her up as we began descending from the carriage.

"Wake up." I commanded. "We're home."

"Urgh..." She moaned. "Too much walking around..."

"We're never going to get to the sanctuary if you keep falling asleep."

"...Take my hand, Mo..."

I took hold of Plutia's hand, intertwining her pale, skinny fingers with my own. I wasn't going to walk into the city doing that, obviously, and I ended up letting go once we began walking through the streets. Plutia followed lazily behind me as I began the slow, agonising walk towards Planeptune's sanctuary. The passage that led up to the towering monolith of a headquarters took a good ten minutes to walk in total, not to mention the murderous glares that some of the national guard threw me, thinking I was just some citizen trying to get into the building.

As per usual, I was stopped by a burly, purple-clad man just before the glass elevator, who demanded that I provide evidence to suggest that I had business in the sanctuary. I gestured behind me, to the barely-awake Goddess of the nation, as if to point out that I was the only person around making sure she wasn't falling over every ten seconds. He grunted rudely and stepped aside to allow me and Plutia in, where we boarded the absurdly-designed elevator and began rising to the very top of the building.

"Home sweet home." I muttered as the elevator reached the top of the sanctuary.

Being away for a day had left me more than susceptible to the horrid colour design of Plutia's room, and so I found myself blinking rapidly and with a dull aching in my head as I walked in. The Goddess behind me, though, seemed nothing short of ecstatic to have finally returned. Without hesitating, and with a great deal of speed that I wasn't quite aware she had, Plutia rushed over to the bed and quickly began making herself at home.

"Nothing beats being back in your own room..." She proclaimed, her voice muffled by the covers.

"You slept the whole way here." I commented. "I can't believe you're still tired..."

"Huh...?" She replied, poking her head out. "I thought you liked napping too, Mo?"

"I do. Just nowhere near as much as you do."

"Come ooon~" She drawled out, reaching forward and grabbing me gently by the arm.

Again, I felt dwarfed by Plutia's immense strength. Even as I reflexively tugged away, she had no problem pulling me into the bed without breaking a sweat. Her status as a CPU was something I sorely overlooked on a daily basis. I wasn't particularly worried where I slept, but it'd be foolish to state that Lowee's beds were anywhere near as good as the ones in Planeptune. It was no wonder that Plutia slept so much when she spent most of her days sinking halfway into the mattress.

"We still have to go see Histoire, you know."

"It can wait, can't it...?" She replied.

"...You're hopeless." I scolded. "...I suppose it's been a while since I had a nap, anyway."

Travelling to another nation and back had certainly taken it out of me.

I barely reacted when Plutia shuffled over and grabbed hold of me like some oversized plush toy. In fact, I found myself trying to suppress a smile at her odd displays of affection.

"Hey, Mo..." I heard her say.

"Hm?"

"On the carriage, you asked me what I thought about you..."

"Yeah."

"...So..." She continued. "...What do you think about me, Mo?"

"I already told you, didn't I?" I replied. "You mean a lot to me."

"I knew that..." She said. "I wanted you to say something more specific..."

"More specific?" I repeated.

As I lay there, next to her, a swarm of answered plagued my mind. What was I supposed to say? I couldn't think of anything more meaningful than simply stating 'you mean a lot to me'. Did she want me to go on about why I had decided to stick around? Did she want me to explain just why she meant so much to me? There was an answer somewhere, dancing around my head, but I just couldn't quite grasp it. Was there any real reason I said that?

A brief glimpse of the correct answer skipped past my vision. Blanc's words repeated endlessly in my ears. There was a reason I stuck around. There was a reason why I never found myself separated from Plutia. It wasn't her generosity or her status that drew me to her. It was the small things. The way she so nonchalantly threw her arms around me at every opportunity. The way she would look at me and smile as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The way she drawled out her words lazily, and the imperfections in her hair that gave it its messy, tussled look.

The reason Plutia meant so much to me was because...

"...I'm not too sure..." I replied nervously. "It's something I can't put into words."

She stared wide-eyed at me, surprised by my response, before half-lidding her eyes and smiling sweetly at me, as if she understood everything.

"...Thanks, Mo."

She said that, and closed her eyes slowly. I watched as she quietly dozed off in the resulting minutes.

I messed up. Realisation had dawned on me so harshly that I had trouble putting it into words. I let go of a breath I wasn't quite aware I was holding in, and laid my head back on the pillow. The rambuctious colours assaulting my senses didn't seem all that bad now, for my mind was aflame with a new series of thoughts that I wasn't aware of before. I felt a hard blush appearing on my cheeks as I repeated my conversations with Blanc in my head over and over.

"Oh God..." I whispered quietly.

It was a conclusion that was about as subtle as a train wreck, and one that I somehow didn't even see coming. One that had been bothering me since we had left Lowee. Perhaps it was my own stubborness that made me believe I was somehow avoiding it, but after a simple question, I had finally arrived at my reason. The reason I didn't resist as Plutia grabbed my hand and led me towards the sanctuary, or why I had suddenly found myself so fond of her frequent attempts at unwarrented physical contact.

I was in love.


	10. Chapter 10

I opened my eyes.

Begrudgingly, I pulled a hand from under the covers and stared lifelessly into the ticking hands of my wristwatch.

10:30am.

It was early. Earlier than I would usually wake up. I thought briefly about how it might be related to my trip to Lowee, and how sleeping somewhere different for one night had somehow messed with my internal clock. My mind was a haze of rememberance, slowly gathering the shattered fragments of the previous day and piecing them back together. I remembered talking with Blanc, our trip back to Planeptune, and going to sleep as soon as we returned.

Then, I remembered my last thoughts before the day ended.

"...Oh dear..." I mumbled quietly.

Love was a strange thing at the best of times, I thought. It was hard to wrap one's head around just how quickly it could catch you in its undodgable grasp. I felt a strange mix of happiness, from having finally come to the conclusion I had so desperately been trying to for days, and fear, from how much things were going to change from now on. There were very few people that went through their lives without experiencing at least a little crush at some point, but the miniscule tingles of affection you had for a cute girl back in school didn't even come close to being completely enamoured with someone.

True love, then. Was that what this was?

"...Sounds fruity as hell."

It felt like such an odd word to say. 'Love'. I had always expected it to be this harmonious, overwhelming wave of happiness that washed over you, as you finally began to identify that one person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. In reality, it was this gripping thing, that made you put your relationship with someone on the line in an attempt to take it that one step further. The specifics made me sick to my stomach. It wasn't like I could just ignore it now. I had a chance to let it slide, but now that I'd realised it, there was no turning back.

Plutia was sleeping right next to me. Something that had been a constant for the short time we had known each other, although now, I found it nothing short of embarrassing to be right next to the girl I had feelings for. I willed myself to turn around, raising an arm and lifting the covers up to get a better look.

As expected, Plutia was right next to me. For the first time, it seemed like I had managed to catch her completely asleep, and not in some horrible, half dozing-off state like I usually did. Her eyes were shut tight, and her breathing was slow and methodical. She had her face half-dug into the pillow, her hair drooping lazily over her face. I felt like an idiot, just staring at her like that, and it felt so strange to know that I'd probably never look at her the same way again.

I must have been a little too noisy when I was moving around, as she contracted her eyes before slowly allowing them to open, a singular, bright-fuschia iris staring back at me within a few seconds. She found the strength to push herself away from the pillow and sit upright in the bed, throwing her arms up in the air as a barely audible yawn escaped her lips. She rubbed her eyes and blinked lazily, still unsteady from having just woken up.

"Morning." I stated plainly.

"...Morning, Mo..." She hummed out.

With my newfound realisation, I was beginning to notice the little things. Particularly, that annoying nickname Plutia had given me shortly after we met. 'Mo.' It was an odd thing to abbreviate 'Modem' to, especially since my name wasn't difficult to pronounce in the first place. Her shortening of it was no doubt due to her unavoidably lazy nature, brought about by the fact that she clearly couldn't be bothered saying it every time she saw me. I initially found it odd that, along with a number of other strange actions that Plutia commited to when we met, she had decided to give me a nickname.

And, although I had found it annoying at first, I couldn't deny that her odd little quirks when dealing with people was beginning to grow on me. There was something about the way that she drawled out my name with such a disregard for how terrible it sounded that I found awfully cute. I must have looked like an idiot as a wry smile made its way onto my face, Plutia's own expression shifting to one of confusion at my sudden display of happiness.

"...You seem really happy today." She pointed out.

I was happy, although it was accompanied by a terrifying sense of dread. I think anyone would be happy if they realised they were in love with someone, but there was always that doubt that lay at the back of your mind that went on about how this wasn't something you should be doing. How you were just going to be rejected when you finally decided to confess, and how you'd never be able to talk to that person again out of embarassment.

For now, though, I was happy. After all, I promised Plutia I'd make an attempt at not being so sulky all the time.

* * *

"Hey, Plutia?"

"Hm?"

"Are the CPUs actually immortal?"

After an uneventful morning, Plutia had decided she wanted to spend the day peacefully in one of Planeptune's national parks; the huge, sprouting swathes of land that covered a surprising percentage of the city's size. While lazing around beneath the canopy of a particularly gigantic tree, I began wondering about the so-called 'immortality' the CPUs supposedly possessed. Plutia, who had her back pressed against the tree next to me, brought a finger to her chin inquisitively and hummed oddly as if it would help her out.

"...I think so." She concluded. "I haven't gotten any taller since I became a CPU..."

"That's not really what I meant..." I replied. "Do you feel like you've aged at all?"

"Blanc and Vert became CPUs way before I did..." She continued. "Those two don't look any different..."

They were immortal, then. Un-aging, at the very least. It only made sense that the symbol of an entire nation would never actually die through ordinary means. From what I had read on internet forums, it didn't seem like they caught diseases, either. In that sense, it certainly made sense that they were frequently referred to as 'Goddesses'. They were perfect humans, created with the strength to create their own nations and defend their people from monsters.

"...I think it makes some stuff harder to deal with, though." Plutia commented.

"What do you mean?"

"...I'm gonna have to watch you grow old and wrinkly, Mo..."

"P-Please don't put that image in my head." I replied. "I'm a few decades too early to be worrying about something like that."

As I finished my sentence, I realised that I had glossed over something she had just said.

"...You really plan on staying around me for that long?" I wondered.

"Yeah..." She muttered, as if it was the easiest thing to say in the world. "Of course I do."

"I'll get old after a while, you know." I warned. "What'll you do then?"

"Yeah, but it's gonna be a long time before that happens." She said. "So I don't have to worry about it..."

"That's a pretty laid-back way of putting it." I noted. "Aren't the CPUs supposed to be hard-working?"

She giggled and shuffled closer to me. While my sentiment was perfectly true for any of the other three CPUs, 'hard-working' was hardly a tag you could apply to someone like Plutia. If it weren't for her image being plastered all over the city, it'd be hard to tell that she was the most important person in Planeptune bar none. Maybe that was just another bullet point to add to the long list of reasons why I had fallen for her. Tenacity and a healthy work ethic were desirable traits in someone, sure, but even better than that was someone who knew how to take it easy.

I was happy like this, just wasting away my days with someone equally as lazy as myself, but it was undeniable that there was a part of me that wanted more than that. How would one successfuly convey their feelings to someone so high up in the social hierarchy? And a barely-functioning sleep addict, to boot. Normally, you'd just segway into a sort of flirting situation whenever you got the chance, but I had the distinct feeling in my gut that an approach like that wouldn't work on Plutia.

"Hey, Plutia..." I muttered. "You ever thought about romance?"

First things first, I should probably check to see if she actually knows what love is.

"Um..." She wondered. "Not really."

"Never?" I replied. "You didn't have a childhood crush or anything like that?"

"...I was too busy napping to worry about stuff like that."

Should've seen that one coming.

"What about you, Mo?" She countered.

"Romance...?" I questioned. "I had some crushes back in school, but nothing more than that."

I also had an undeniable affection to the girl right in front of me, but it wasn't like I was just going to say that out loud.

"Oh..." She nodded understandably. "What kind of girls are your type, Mo?"

"My type?"

I didn't have any set standards for the type of girl I was into. Classic stuff, really. Tall, long hair, nice personality, that kind of thing.

"Not too sure, honestly." I said, scratching my chin. "I like who I like."

"Hm..." She muttered thoughtfully. "Then, what about the CPUs?"

"What?"

"The four CPUs..." She repeated. "...Which one is your type?"

My eyes widened. Plutia cocked her head to the side in a show of brief confusion as a thin blush began to run across my cheeks. She worded the question in a way that made it sound like she wasn't a CPU herself. Was this some form of test? Had Plutia picked up on my feelings long ago, and was now trying to see if I could keep true to myself? Or was she simply too ditzy to realise that she was clearly talking to someone who was harbouring some serious feelings for her.

There wasn't much time to formulate a plan. What would be the easiest, smoothest, and least embarassing way of telling Plutia that I thought she surpassed all three other CPUs in terms of attractiveness? Under any normal circumstance, I would say Noire, or Lady Green Heart, disregarding Plutia as 'cute', but hardly suited for a serious relationship. This was the one situation where I couldn't rely on such a failsafe in fear of hurting Plutia's feelings and lying to myself about her.

...That being said, I wasn't going to waste time stuttering and looking like an idiot.

"I'd probably pick you, in all honesty." I answered nonchalantly.

It felt like time stopped for a brief moment. It was as if God himself had stepped down from his omnipotent seat of power to allow me a brief moment of respite, to analyse the situation carefully and appreciate just how rare it was to see Plutia surprised. Her mouth was just barely parted, and her eyes, normally half-lidded, were widened in that horrifically-beautiful spectrum of fuschia she kept hidden away under her lazy visage.

"You seem surprised." I said obviously.

"U-Um..." She stuttered briefly. "Yeah..."

I almost wish I could have had a camera on me as she said that. I was fairly certain that seeing Plutia with anything except a big dopey smile on her face was rare beyond my wildest dreams. Even rarer still was the thick hue of crimson that ran straight across her face as she twiddled her thumbs shyly and struggled to find her words. I had previously thought that embarassment was a concept that Plutia either couldn't understand or utterly threw to the wind, but now I realised that even someone like her was capable of getting a little red-faced sometimes.

"...You mean it?"

She said as if she was certain that I was going to come out and tell her I was joking.

"Yup." I replied. "Who did you think I was going to say?"

"...Dunno." She admitted. "Not me, though..."

I put a hand on her head and ruffled my fingers through her hair.

"Don't kick yourself." I said. "You're pretty cute."

"Don't say embarassing stuff, Mo..."

She really was cute. Seeing her flare up alleviated me from the little hole I had managed to dig myself into. Even if it was realistically impossible for me to ever develop a closer relationship with her, just having little moments like this was enough to brighten the rest of my day. Just as I was about to retort with one of my devilishly witty remarks, I felt my phone rumble away in my pocket. I ceased playing with Plutia's hair as I shuffled through my messages to see who had ruined the moment.

 _M_

It was from my brother. He always started his texts by calling me 'M' for some reason. I suppose he just used our standing as brothers to give me a cool nickname without worrying about it sounding weird. The last time he contacted me, I couldn't help but feel bad as I imagined him angrily smashing away on his phone, complaining about how I, the far less successful younger brother, managed to score a place in the comfiest room in Planeptune.

 _Things are going well in Lastation. Lady Black Heart visited Planeptune a while ago to meet Lady Iris Heart, and you must have been with them, seeing as she wanted to see me as soon as she returned. It looks like she checked up on your civilian record to see if you were a criminal and spotted my name somewhere. She seemed pretty surprised that I wasn't the same, sarcastic layabout as my little brother. It was probably the first time someone didn't laugh at our names._

 _She said that you seemed like a trustworthy person, which doesn't fit in well with the Modem I remember, but maybe hanging around with CPUs has done you some good. Seeing as you're getting along with her, do you think you could recommend me for a higher engineering position in Lastation the next time you see her? I get that sitting around and making headlines with the CPU of Planeptune is all well and good, but I've still got to work for a living, so I'd appreciate it if you could show your brother some love and ascend me to a higher place in the industry._

 _Oh, and I caught wind that you and your Goddess sidekick headed to Lowee on a business trip a few days ago. I'm not sure what you did there, but Lady White Heart seems to have developed an unhealthy obsession with romance novels ever since then. I'm sitting here right now with a copy of the book she had published yesterday and the main characters are starting to sound a lot like you and Lady Iris Heart. Just thought you'd like to know._

 _-Router_

He also had a tendency of paragraphing his texts and taking the time to painstakingly assure that his messages were in perfect English. Not that I was going to get on his case for that, but having such a busy job made me wonder where he found the drive to write such huge texts whenever he got the chance. He should just be more like me in that regard. I punched in a quick response in fifteen seconds flat.

 _Router_

 _I'm a wonderful person to be around._

 _I'll talk to Noire about your job._

 _Stop reading romance novels, you pansy.  
_

 _-Modem_

Short, concise, and straight to the point. That being said, typing out whole paragraphs to send to your brother was probably a pretty good way to break up the monotony of being a Lastation engineer. That kind of job was the stuff I had nightmares about. Plutia had somehow shuffled even closer to me, peering over my shoulder curiously as I read and replied to my brother's messages.

"He seems like a nice person..." She commented.

"He is, most of the time." I replied. "Me and him are hardcore practitioners of the whole 'sibling rivalry' deal, so we're always like this."

Good thing I've one-upped him in every way imaginable by becoming friends with Plutia.

"I make fun of him all the time, but he's actually one of Lastation's lead engineers." I explained. "A lot of the consoles you see getting released these days were partially designed by him."

"Oh..." She mouthed whimsically. "Could you do that, Mo?"

"U-Uh..." I stuttered. "I'm more of a... 'cog of society' working-class kind of guy."

That certainly seemed like the best way to admit that I was nowhere near as intelligent as my brother.

"Really...?" She muttered. "What did you do before we met, Mo?"

"I did a lot of things." I replied. "cafè attendant, construction worker, call centre drone, internet forum moderator..."

"Wow..." She said slowly. "You must have a lot of skills..."

"Yeah, we'll say that."

In reality, I was what people would call a 'Jack of all trades'. Practicer of much, master of none, and all that. I have a terrible problem with never being interested in any one thing for too long. After a while, I began to fear that it might have actually been some form of illness that I wasn't aware of, but the doctor informed me quite blankly that I was just a simpleton who lacked interest in prolonged tasks.

I stood up from my sitting position and brushed the blades of grass off my trousers.

"We should head back." I said. "Lady Histoire wouldn't want you gone for too long."

She nodded in that slow way of hers. I extended a hand forward towards her, which she took without a hint of hesitation. I wouldn't have noticed it otherwise, but it really was surprising to see just how much her hand was dwarfed by my one, despite her being almost my age. Her fingers were white as snow, and no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't spot even the slightest hint of any blemish or imperfection. Just a pure, almost completely lineless hand. That, combined with the fact that she dressed in that ludicrous array of layers she dared call pajamas every day gave her an almost doll-like appearance. It was odd, seeing as Plutia was hardly gracious or elegant by any stretch of the imagination.

In the brief few moments I had spent looking through my texts and talking to my brother, I had almost forgotten that I was supposed to be in love. I let my hand retreat as soon as Plutia managed to stand up, her cute little stumbling from having to move too quickly planting a miniscule smirk on my face. She stabilised herself and stared at me awkwardly, as if she was embarassed that I had to watch her break out of her regular sleep-addled state. I turned around and began walking towards the Sanctuary with her in tow.

"God..." I muttered under my breath. "...Just who have I gone and fallen for?"

* * *

After half an hour and another accursed trek through the sanctuary's impossibly large walkway, I had to explain to yet another member of the royal guard that I was in fact escorting Plutia back to her room before he would let me get even remotely close to the elevator, but reluctantly agreed after the CPU in question lazily testified that I did actually live here and that he should let me in.

"Is it really necessary to have guards protecting the sanctuary?" I asked. "When was the last time anything even remotely dangerous happened in Planeptune?"

"Histy wanted to keep them around..." Plutia explained. "She doesn't trust me when I'm alone in here..."

So the duty of the royal guard wasn't to protect Plutia, but to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't do anything silly while Histoire was away.

Up the glass elevator we went. After another astounding look at the nation of Planeptune, we arrived at our destination and pushed the door to Plutia's room open.

Lady Histoire was sitting patiently on her book as we walked in, gently hovering above Plutia's bed. She had a tendency of lingering around the sanctuary whenever Plutia stepped outside for whatever reason in fear of something happening to her. It seems that my accompanying her didn't alleviate any of Histoire's fears, either. Nonetheless, she seemed happy to see us, which was a remarkable thing to see, as I would rather not incur her wrath after seeing how angry she could get if she wanted to.

"Plutia. Modem." She addressed politely. "It's nice to see that you're back safe and sound."

"We only went to the park." I replied. "You make it sound as if we got sent to war or something."

"Ensuring the well-being of the CPUs is one of my most important duties." She stated. "It would be my responsibility if anything were to happen to Plutia."

"It's okay, Histy..." The sluggish CPU reassured. "Mo always catches me when I trip and fall over."

"She does that a lot." I justified.

"Speaking of you, Modem..." She said calmly. "I would like to talk with you outside of Plutia's room, if possible."

"Oh dear." I replied. "What have I done now?"

"It's nothing serious." She said. "I'd just like to address something. Please, follow me."

I shrugged to Plutia and began following the miniscule page-pixie to the room's exit. The space between the elevator and the door was large enough for a fair amount of people to stand in, but I couldn't help but feel awfully claustrophobic at having been squeezed into such a space with someone who I was still having a great deal of trouble figuring out their opinion of me. That being said, she didn't seem to be angry at me, so I was intrigued to see why she had called me out.

"Have you seen the news lately, Modem?"

"No, actually. I've been spending most of my free time with Plutia."

"I see..." She muttered. "To put it simply, news of your residence in Planeptune's sanctuary has been spreading like wildfire across Gamindustri."

"Not surprising." I replied. "It's not every day a CPU drags some schmuck off the streets and into their comfy bedroom."

"You aren't worried by this development?"

"Nah, it's cool." I said. "Was this all you wanted to talk about?"

"No. There was something else I wanted to mention."

She clears her throat and adjusts herself on that little book of hers.

"Lady Green Heart has expressed a desire to meet you."

"The CPU of Leanbox?" I wondered. "What an honour. I've never been there before."

"You're willing to oblige?"

"I've already met the other two CPUs. Getting to know the last one couldn't hurt."

Leanbox. The nation of dense forests with a deeply ingrained culture reminiscent of medieval times. An interesting thing to note about it is that the nation is actually situated on an island away from Gamindustri's main continent, meaning that getting there was going to require some more time and effort. Still, seeing the world was always something I wanted to do, and considering it was by the request of Lady Green Heart herself, I didn't see any reason to refuse.

"Fantastic." Histoire said. "I will have arranged the necessary transport by tomorrow."

"T-Tomorrow...?" I muttered. "Isn't that a bit soon?"

"Well, the earlier you arrive in Leanbox, the better. No?"

"I suppose you're right..." I replied. "We just got back from Lowee, too..."

The life of a CPU's companion was a busy one indeed.

"Also, Modem..." Histoire continued. "I have to ask you something."

"Shoot, chief."

"I do hope it's nothing personal, but..." She began. "...Haven't you been acting a little... strange recently?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Around Plutia, I mean." She elaborated. "Her odd obsession with hugging you seems to be having a much larger affect on you recently."

"A-Ah." I replied. "It's nothing, really. She just catches me off guard sometimes."

I dared not admit my feelings to Histoire, of all people, lest I invoke her dimunative wrath.

"I see. Perhaps I'm just being too critical." She pondered. "Thank you for your time, Modem."

"Not a problem."

And with that, she hovered towards the elevator and began rapidly descending to the Sanctuary's lower floors. I let go of a sigh that I wasn't quite aware I was holding in. It looked like me and Plutia were heading away from Planeptune again, for the second time this week. I doubt she would be happy hearing that she was going to be separated from her beloved bed once more at the behest of another CPU, but it wasn't like I could simply refuse Lady Green Heart's request.

"Leanbox, huh?" I muttered aloud. "...I hear it's nice there, this time of year."


	11. Chapter 11

"That was interesting." I said. "I've never been on a boat before."

Gamindustri being mostly situated on a single landmass meant that naval travel wasn't exactly common for anyone who didn't live in Leanbox, and even then there was little reason to travel to the mainland unless you had friends or family to visit. Obviously, the only person with any real incentive to travel to Leanbox was a CPU, and so I was willing to wager money that the boat we were just on was significantly higher-class than anything a normal citizen would get.

I could go on and on about how beautiful the landscapes and plains of Planeptune are, but nothing there even came close to the rolling hills and lush forests of Leanbox. The unbroken visage of such a fertile area certainly seemed like an appropriate place to found a nation, especially when compared to a barren wasteland like Lowee. Leanbox's city was right in the middle of the island, surrounded by a ludicrous amount of flora and flanked by the towering mountainous region to the north, and was where the CPU, along with the vast majority of Leanbox's population lived.

"Seems like a nice place to kick back." I commented.

There was a certain air about the place that filled you with energy. Being so far away from the industrialization of the other nations gave Leanbox a reputation for peace and quiet, along with an outward appearance reminiscent of a time long before I or any of the current CPUs were alive. Being a haven for plant and animal life, Leanbox had also acquired a reputation for its wide range of cuisines and delicacies, to the point where it was common for members of the higher nobility to hold more ancient, traditional events like feasts.

Due to the small amount of people that made a point of visiting the island, Leanbox had only a single pier hastily constructed on the beach surrounding the entire island. Past that point, it was impossible to see anything past the vast canopy of greenery obscuring the view bar the tops of some hills and mountains. Behind me, a recently-having-awoken-from-her-nap Plutia blinked lazily as she held a hand towards her face to block the sun. Although she made it quite apparent that Leanbox 'really wasn't her kind of place', she didn't seem to have a problem with joining me to visit Lady Green Heart.

"You slept the whole way here." I said. "You can't still be tired."

"...No such thing as too much sleep, Mo..."

Plutia joining me meant that her CPU duties were temporarily being handed over to Histoire. She had organised our trip here via boat, but informed us that Lady Green Heart would be taking the reins once we got off at the island. Sure enough, at the end of the pier were a number of green-clad guards, vaguely reminiscent of the ones that couldn't stop harassing me back in Planeptune, although instead of wearing loose-fitting robes, a large portion of their bodies was covered in a metallic plating, giving the impression that they were knights. Instead of the large and intimidating spears the Planeptune guards held, they seemed to have scabbards jutting out from their waists.

"It's like stepping into a fantasy world..." I muttered. "Is Leanbox always like this?"

"Every nation's unique..." Plutia replied groggily. "Some CPUs like to put lots of effort into how their nation looks."

Pictures that I had seen of Leanbox didn't look anything like what I was seeing. Most of them were shots of the main city, which looked just as modern as any other nation. The CPUs still favoured function over form, as actually constructing buildings like they would in the past wouldn't be very efficient. There were rumours circulating around some niche sites on the internet that Lady Green Heart was some kind of hardcore shut-in obsessed with technology and gaming, too, but it definitely didn't correlate with the fact that in public, she was a very graceful and elegant person.

There were far more guards than I expected to see once we got off the boat. I assumed it had something to do with Plutia coming with me, seeing as cross-nation visits were generally regarded as situations of extreme importance. The guards led us from the beach into an unorthodox trek straight through the treeline just beyond it. When I say that, I don't mean they brought us through a dirt path in the woods, I mean they actually had people standing in front of us cutting through branches in our way while me and Plutia tried our hardest not to trip on the undergrowth.

Was this really how Leanbox carried itself? Were there no pathways? No modes of transportation? I had heard that they were a notoriously hard working group of people, but to exist in an absolute maze of greenery like this made me wonder how they even got around. Was it going to be like this all the way to the city? Were we going to have to set up camp and sleep on the dirt, taking shifts every few hours to look out for bears? Just as I finished that thought, the guard in front seemed to cut into some kind of open area. I wondered if we were approaching some kind of village or settlement, and I stood on my toes to get a better look at what was ahead of us.

"...What do you see, Mo?" Plutia asked, moving head her head back and forth as she dodged leaves and spider webs.

"Ah..." I muttered, only now realising. "...I-Is that a road?"

Sure enough, we came out onto a long strip of land that stretched horizontally as far as the eye could see. It was a no-holds barred, completely tarmac two-lane road running straight through what was otherwise a completely unremarkable forest. The absurdity of it boggled me for the few seconds it took to realise that perhaps Leanbox wasn't as embedded in the past as I thought it was.

"I guess you've got to have some way to move through the nation..."

The guard in front turned around and motioned for us to move out onto the road.

"Lady Green Heart has arranged for transport to take you straight to the city." He explained calmly.

He waved a hand over to the right, and I followed it as my eyes were led towards the vast expanse of road that stretched far beyond the horizon. There, sitting on the right hand side of the road, was a pristine-looking, completely motorised car rumbling slowly a few steps to the right of us. In the driver's seat was a guard who was for some strange reason still covered head-to-toe in Leanbox armour. I craned my head behind me, watching as even Plutia blinked slowly in confusion.

"I kind of feel like I'm being told a joke with no punchline." I muttered.

Even Lowee had the aesthetic decency to stick us in a carriage, even though the tundras beyond the nation were plagued with heavy snowstorms. In fact, carriages would have suited Leanbox much better than Lowee. The car in front of us looked Planeptune levels of modern.

"Better just to avoid questioning it..." I said. "It'll be quicker than the carriage, at least."

One of the guards walked forward and opened the passenger doors for us like a time traveller who didn't quite know what was going on. Without another word, me and Plutia piled into the vehicle amidst the absurdity of the situation. The guard threw some kind of odd gesture at us before we left; probably something relating to Leanbox. Planeptune guards did a similar thing whenever they passed Plutia. The guard in front wasted no time getting the thing rolling as we began cruising down the heavily industrialised medieval tarmac road ahead of us.

"How are the other guards going to get back...?" I wondered. "Aren't they just stranded in the middle of nowhere?"

The driver didn't bother giving me a response.

* * *

One of the first things I noticed upon our arrival in the city was that Leanbox looked remarkably like Planeptune once you passed through the horrendous overgrowth. Large, extraordinary minamalist skyscrapers sprouted up from the ground wherever you looked, and the amount of citizens living there meant that highways and other manmade transportation structures were incredibly commonly, making the entire thing seem awfully futuristic.

The sanctuary was noticeably different, however. While not as tall and as straightforward as Planeptune's was, it certainly made itself well-known throughout the nation by manifesting as a huge archway that seemed to encapsulate the entire city. From what I had seen on the internet, the entrances were at either end and there were two elevators leading up to the top, where a series of hallways connecting a bunch of rooms used for governmental duties were situated. Lady Green Heart's quarters were located in the middle of the archway.

"Give me some intel, Plutia." I said. "What kind of person is Lady Green Heart?"

"Vert...?" She wondered aloud. "She's nice. You'll like her, Mo."

"That so?" I replied. "...I'll take your word for it, then."

A few minutes later, we were being escorted out of the car and towards the Sanctuary. The guard in front of us craned his head back as we approached it.

"Lady Green Heart will meet you in the lobby." He said, a certain degree of that knight-like gruff-but-chivalrous tone accompanying his words.

The Sanctuary was large. Far larger than the one in Planeptune. Whereas the one back home was mostly dedicated to keeping the CPU safe and secure at the top of the tower, it looked like Leanbox's focused more on using it as a sort of command centre for the entire nation. The 'lobby' had an absolutely ludicrous amount of people running back and forth behind desks and computers, working away to better the state of the nation. It was sort of what I expected Lastation's Sanctuary to be like, with the amount of work that was being put into the place clearly tiring out the people that were there.

"Plutia!" A harmonious and undoubtebly feminine voice called out from behind me and Plutia.

We each turned around. Plutia managed a cute little smile when she realised the voice belonged to none other than Lady Green Heart herself. Her striking appearance made it hard not to notice her walking towards us, especially since blonde hair was becoming an increasingly rare thing to see nowadays. In a stark contrast to the other CPUs, Lady Green Heart certainly looked and acted a lot older than her peers, despite being around for almost the same amount of time. She seemed nothing short of ecstatic to see us, and smiled grandly as she approached me and Plutia.

"It's lovely to see you again, Plutia." She said politely. "We haven't had a chance to speak in so long."

"It takes too long to get here..." Plutia whined.

"I'm sorry about that." She replied. "There are a selection of rooms in the Sanctuary where you'll be able to rest later on."

Plutia seemed content with that.

"...And you must be Modem." She said, turning towards me. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Yeah, likewise."

I shook her hand.

"I understand that Plutia can be difficult to deal with sometimes." She said. "Thank you for being her friend."

"Not a problem." I replied. "It's not like I had any real choice in the matter..."

Although I'd certainly gone far beyond the concept of friendship by this point. My mind had been wandering ever since we got on the boat bound for Leanbox, but every time I looked at Plutia, I was harshly reminded that I was harbouring a deep-seated array of feelings for her. Becoming Plutia's friend was one of the biggest turning points in my life, and now, I could only sit back and hope that through some sheer roll of the dice, I could somehow take it even further than that.

"Well, let me be the first to introduce you to Leanbox." She continued. "I hope everything you've seen already is what you were expecting."

"More or less." I replied. "It's always nice to have a change of scenery."

"Fantastic." She said brightly. "If it's not too much trouble, Modem, I'd like you to accompany me to my office."

"What about Plutia?"

"The guards will show her the way to the accommodation we have prepared for you two."

As per usual for our trips to other nations, me and Plutia were spending the night in Leanbox. Sanctuaries generally had specific rooms prepared for high-profile guests, so arranging it wasn't much of an issue.

"That's fine, then." I said, turning towards Plutia. "I'll see you later, alright?"

"Don't be too long, Mo..." She drawled out.

With that, she twirled around and began following two guards that were heading towards the other end of the room, near where the elevator was.

"She calls you Mo?" Lady Green Heart inquired curiously. "How cute."

"She's been doing that ever since we met."

We began walking in the opposite direction from where Plutia went. There were an abundance of elevators placed against the lobby's walls, probably to compensate for the amount of people working there. We moved into an empty one at the left end of the room. It wasn't a fancy glass elevator like the one in Planeptune, but just a regular, metallic elevator you'd usually see commonly placed around the nation. Lady Green Heart pushed a finger against one of the many buttons on the side panel, and the entire thing shook for a brief moment before the elevator began to rise.

"I've been told that you're already acquainted with the other CPUs." She said.

"Just out of coincidence, more than anything else." I replied. "This is the first time I've been personally invited by one."

"Planeptune's official newspaper has been skyrocketing in popularity recently." She continued. "It seems to have some kind of obsession with you."

"I wouldn't know. I usually don't read newspapers."

"Paragraphs upon paragraphs of everything the media could find out about you." She explained. "You've become some kind of celebrity, it seems."

"That's hard to believe."

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened up into a small room whose only purpose seemed to be housing the lifts. The only connecting infrastructure was a hallway at one end of the room. Lady Green Heart led the way as we began walking past a series of identical doors that must have broken off into office blocks or something similar. Considering that we had just gotten off at the top floor, it was reasonable to assume that this was the 'arch' part of the Sanctuary's strange design.

"Why did you want me to come here?" I asked. "If what you're saying is true, couldn't you just learn about me through the newspaper?"

"A citizen living with a CPU is unheard of, Modem." She replied. "I'm interested in seeing just what made Plutia so interested in you."

"Last I checked, it was just because we were both lazy..."

"Plutia is quite a reserved girl." She said. "Surely there must have been something she saw in you."

"Maybe."

At the end of the corridor was a door that looked just as plain as the others. Only here, there was a small device on the wall that looked like you had to press your hand into it. Lady Green Heart walked forward and did just that, a series of beeps coming from the device as it recognised her hand. The sound of a lock undoing itself came from the door, and Lady Green Heart pulled down the handle and threw it open.

Her room looked just as I imagined it would. Oddly stuck in the past and aged. The white, sterile floor from the corridor had been replaced by a lavish red carpet complimented by little, golden swirly designs at the edges. Some chairs and couches were scattered around the place, along with a bed and several cabinets pressed up neatly against the far wall. On the right hand side of the room was an out-of-place and expensive looking TV, which had an unfathomable range of consoles and miscellaneous tech set up beneath it.

"Feel free to take a seat, Modem." Lady Green Heart offered.

"Never seen the bedroom of any CPU except for Plutia's." I remarked, sitting down on the couch. "Looks fancy."

"Oh?" She replied. "Do you go to Plutia's room often?"

"It's where I live." I explained. "We stay in the same room."

"I see." She said. "Well, I certainly can't blame someone like Plutia for doing something so shameless."

"It was weird for the first couple of days." I replied. "But I got used to it. Plutia's the type of person that grows on you after a while."

"That's something I've been meaning to ask." She said. "What exactly is your relationship with her?"

To be perfectly honest, I should have seen this one coming from a mile away. It was only natural that someone would get suspicious if two people spent so much time together. I hesitated for a brief moment, and, in retrospect, that was probably my first mistake. From a strategical standpoint, I could have made this so much easier on myself by formulating a response before someone asked me about it, but I only had my own incompetence to blame for not bothering to. What exactly was I supposed to say? We were friends, sure, but I felt as though I was betraying myself by saying that. What was there to lose, in a situation like this?

"We're just friends, unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?"

"Yeah." I replied. "I've got a thing for her, I think."

"Oh my." She exclaimed, genuinely surprised. "Are you sure telling someone that is a good idea?"

"You seem like a trustworthy person." I replied.

"Oh dear, oh dear..." She muttered, hiding a smile poorly behind her hand. "I wasn't expecting to hear that."

"Hiding it isn't going to do me any good."

"Still, there aren't many people who would openly admit something like that." She replied. "Although I'm certain you haven't told Plutia yet."

"No chance." I said. "I can't even begin to imagine how she'd respond to something like that."

"This is an interesting development..." She replied. "Hang on for a moment. I'll be right back."

And with that, she walked to the end of the room and walked back into the corridor, leaving me alone.

"Maybe that wasn't the best idea..." I muttered.

Perhaps I should have just kept that information to myself. Even though I hadn't even come to terms with my feelings for Plutia yet, I was already letting it slip out to people I barely even knew. That being said, I'm sure Lady Green Heart was someone I could trust to keep it a secret. At least for as long as I wanted it to remain one, anyway. I spent a few minutes lounging around before the door to the room opened once more. Lady Green Heart had returned holding a tray topped off with ornate cups and a teapot.

"At first, I was only going to ask a little about yourself." She said merrily, placing the tray down on the table in front of the sofa. "But what you've just told me is far too interesting to ignore."

She poured herself and I some tea, which I took without hesitation. I mentioned this before, but I detested hot drinks in general, but for the sake of politeness, it looked as though I just had to deal with it for the time being. I tried to block my nose as best I could and took a sip, stopping my face from scrunching up just in time for me to swallow it down. The warmth of it going down my throat made my entire body shudder with disgust.

"Talking with me doesn't seem like a very productive use of your time." I commented.

"With how things are these days, the CPUs have much more free time." She replied.

"I suppose..." I muttered. "What do you want to know?"

"I want to know what you see in Plutia, Modem." She answered. "I find it interesting that you've fallen for such an odd girl."

"What do I see in her?"

It was such a simple question. One that I was sure I'd be able to answer, but when I really started thinking about it, my mind drew a blank on what I found so endearing about Plutia. I was in love with her, for sure, but the reason why seemed to elude me. Was it that strange, whimsical air she gave off from her status juxtaposed against her position as a CPU? Was in the fact that she threw herself at me whenever she could, never once stopping to consider the ramifications or consequences?

"Well..." I started. "I suppose it's just down to how comfortable we are with each other."

"...I'm not sure I follow." Lady Green Heart replied, puzzled.

"Plutia broke through every friendship barrier like a runaway train." I explained. "From the day we met, she never stopped trying to get close to me."

"Most of the people who have interacted with Plutia have said that her personality can be somewhat suffocating."

"Yeah, that's what I felt, too." I replied. "I guess it just started growing on me after a while."

It wasn't just that I had gotten so used to living with Plutia. We were together so often, I was starting to forget what it felt like to be by myself. I'd spent so much of my adult life working place-to-place, never once stopping to acknowledge that maybe I should try developing some relationships with the people I worked with, because whenever I got the chance, it was already time to move on. Plutia reminded me the hard way that friendship was something vital to just being human.

"After spending so much time with Plutia..." I muttered. "...It's only natural that I'd start thinking about her in that way, right?"

"My, my..." She repeated. "So when are you planning to confess?"

"How would I go about doing that?"

"By telling her, of course!" She exclaimed. "You need to run up to her and profess your undying love before someone else snatches her away!"

"Not happening."

"O-Oh..." She muttered. "Then how would you do it?"

"I'll tell her, just not in the way you're thinking of." I replied. "I'm just worried she won't feel the same way, is all."

"Oh, hush, Modem." She said. "I guarantee that she'll launch herself at you as soon as the word 'love' leaves your mouth."

"You think so?"

"I know so." She affirmed. "From what I've seen, half of Planeptune believes that you two are involved anyway."

"Don't know where the papers got that impression from..."

"Blanc sent me an e-mail saying you two slept in the same bed." She replied. "To be honest, I had my suspicions before your arrival as well."

"What a pain..." I muttered. "Don't go telling her about any of this."

"Oh, of course not!" She exclaimed. "Romance is a thing that requires careful planning and confidence. I have no intention of infringing on that."

"Thanks." I replied. "...Is that all you wanted to know?"

"Not precisely." She said. "I'd like to hear more about your life before you met Plutia, if that's alright."

"Yeah, that's fine."

I wasn't sure where to start, so I started talking about my childhood. I went through the earlier years of my life, mentioning anything noteworthy that happened during that time, before moving further on in my life. I talked about my time with my parents and my brother, as well as my experiences in education. Eventually, I drifted off into how I began my life as a wandering vagabond, and how I took a new job every few days and how exciting it was to meet new people and experience new things every day. I talked about how my brother had gone into engineering in Lastation, and how we still kept in contact despite never actually seeing one-another. The entire talk must've lasted a few hours, at least, and when Lady Green Heart decided to go open a window to let some fresh air in, we were both surprised to see that the sun was already starting its crimson descent towards the horizon.

"Good grief, is it already that late...?" She muttered. "I apologise for keeping you so long, Modem."

"It's fine." I replied. "It's not like I had anything better to do."

"Still, it must have been tiring to talk for so long." She said. "I can escort you to your room, if you'd like."

"Sounds good."

We set out from the room and began walking down the corridor once more.

"Plutia must be bored out of her skull without you." She said. "I will apologise to her once we get there."

"She's tired from having just been to Lowee and back." I replied. "Probably slept most of the day away."

"I wonder if that striking drowsiness of hers is something you're attracted to."

"It's pretty cute." I admitted. "It's rare to see someone who can take it so easy nowadays."

"Quite a few people believe it's informal to act so carefree as a CPU." She pointed out. "But I adore that part of her."

"She can get serious when she needs to."

"Oho." She laughed. "It sounds as though you've had an unfortunate run-in with her HDD form."

"Only once." I replied. "Although I don't think I'd like to see it again."

"Dear little Plutia can become so assertive whenever she gets like that." Lady Green Heart noted. "Such a change from how she usually is..."

Lady Green Heart came to a sudden halt during our walk as we passed by a door that looked the same as any other.

"This is where your room is for tonight." She explained.

"It looks the same as the other doors..." I muttered. "How are you supposed to remember where everything is?"

"Diligence and memory are important parts of being a CPU, Modem." She said pridefully.

With that, she turned around and walked off towards the elevator room, leaving me alone in the corridor. I sighed and pushed down the handle on the door, making my way inside and closing it behind me. The room wasn't much from what I was expecting, and in many regards, it was quite similar to what Lady Green Heart's quarters looked liked. There was a lush red carpet running along the floor, along with few chairs and a table set up at one end of the room. A single bed was pressed up against the left-hand wall from where you would walk in.

On that bed, I could spot the shuffling form of Plutia, who I had apparently interrupted by entering. She sat up on the bed with her dim, lilac hair somehow even messier than it usually was. She blinked a few times and brought her arms up into a yawn. Once she realised it was me walking through the door, she closed her eyes and beamed a huge smile at me.

"Hi, Mo..." She drawled lazily.

"What's up." I greeted. "How long have you been sleeping?"

"Since I got here."

"You're too lazy for your own good..."

"What did you and Vert talk about...?" She asked.

"Nothing important."

I walked over and sat down on the opposite end of the bed. Almost immediately, I felt a light weight against my back and a pair of arms wrapped around my waist. I sighed and waited patiently as Plutia dug her face into my back and giggled softly. I couldn't even act embarassed now that this had become such ordinary behaviour from her. Though, since she had started doing it, I had learned that it was easier to sit back and enjoy it rather than act all flustered. It was such a strange situation, when you thought a little about it. Being so close with someone you had feelings for would be a green flag in any sane person's mind, and a rational individual might even see it as a perfect opportunity to express just how much you enjoyed being around them.

"It was a little strange, actually..." I muttered. "It feels so odd to be away from you, even for just a few hours."

"It gets boring without you here, too." She replied. "It's nice to have someone to talk to and cuddle up with..."

It was odd hearing it being worded like that. Saying it in that way made us sound like a couple.

Plutia let go, and shuffled up beside me with her legs dangling from the edge of the bed. She looked up at me and smiled in that oddly sweet half-baked way she always did. The lights in the room weren't on, and it was starting to get dark, but Plutia's blindingly fluorescent pajamas stood out just like they always did. She really did look just like an antique doll, wrapped up in such convoluted garments. She also had the same pale complexion of those strange models you'd buy for your daughters back in the day. Although she was hardly as elegant as those dolls were supposed to appear.

"...You're really beautiful, you know."

It felt strange saying that. Ordinarily, I'd just say 'cute' because it was friendly enough that it didn't sound too weird. 'Beautiful' had that strange poetic feel to it that you would only use when you were trying to pay a genuine compliment to someone. Perhaps it just slipped out, but deep down, it felt nice to say something like that to her. Her eyes widened a little and she parted her lips in surprise, before adopting that strange, almost worried look she got whenever she was embarassed.

"...You'll make me blush if you say weird stuff..."

"You get flustered too easily." I replied. "I was just speaking my mind, is all."

"You've got weird things on your mind..."

She shifted to the right slightly, and dropped her head sideways onto my arm.

"But that's okay..." She continued. "It feels nice when you say things like that..."

The room went silent.

Here I was, sitting in a room with the person that I'd give anything to be alone with. In retrospect, that's what I'd been doing ever since I had met Plutia. We spent so much time just lazing around in our rooms, talking about nothing in particular, exchanging thoughtful words and hugging each other for no reason. It was only up until recently that I realised I didn't particularly want that to end anytime soon. Was this what love was? Just wanting to spend time with someone for no reason other than just being around them? If that was the case, I was falling further in love every day I spent with Plutia. Maybe I'd build up enough courage to just say it one day, like I did just now. Would there really be any change to how things were if she didn't feel the same way?

"Talking like this..." She muttered. "It kind of looks like we're a couple, doesn't it?"

"A little." I replied.

"It's kind of weird to think about it..." She continued. "...I've never been in that kind of relationship before, but this is kind of what I think it'd feel like..."

"I guess."

"...Hey, Mo..." She said slowly. "...Have you ever thought about me in that way?"

What a strange night this was turning out to be.

"A few times, yeah." I answered truthfully. "Sounds kind of odd saying it out loud, though."

She closed her eyes and mulled over my response.

"Sorry." I apologised. "It must sound weird being told that."

She shook her head

"...I don't think I would mind being with Mo like that..."

I was quite calm and whatnot on the outside at that moment, but in reality, my heart had begun to beat rather quickly. What was this all about? Plutia didn't usually delve this deep into the relationships we had with each other, so hearing something like that caught me off-guard. Was this some indirect way of letting me know that she had caught on to my feelings? Was I supposed to be on the offensive here? Or was this just some sleep-addled nonsense from someone who had been given far too much time to sleep? The room went silent once more, except this time, the air was tense and fragile.

"I-It's getting late." I said quietly. "We should get to bed."

"...Yeah." She whispered back.

We were returning to Planeptune tomorrow, after all. It'd be terrible if we fell asleep on the way home, although I had a feeling that Plutia would do that anyway. Despite her nap before I had arrived, she fell asleep almost immediately after her face hit the pillow, leaving me wide-awake on the opposite side, holding a hand to my forehead and staring at the ceiling.

"Just what was all that about..." I muttered to myself.


	12. Chapter 12

It was early morning outside.

I blinked, but it was that kind of blink that sort of hurt when you did it. A blink that told young children and teenagers that they had been up for far too late, and that it was time to hit the sack. Thing was, it wasn't that I didn't want to go to sleep, but rather I had found myself so utterly perturbed by my own thoughts that I was finding it difficult to close my eyes and rest. I'd managed to sneak a few hours in amidst the many more I spent with my hands crossed over my chest staring at the ceiling. Every time my concentration lapsed, and I allowed my head to simmer down, a faint breath from Plutia sleeping beside me sent it straight back into a worrysome state. I had lost track of how many times I'd ran that conversation from last night through my head.

Was I in the green zone right now? Was I supposed to take what Plutia said as some kind of opportunity to go full confession-mode on her? Was it just another of her pointless, sleep-driven tangents? Mutual feelings is kind of like a dream that you only see in rom-coms and those badly-directed TV shows that used to be on the air years ago. There was always that fleeting hope that you developed when you had feelings for someone, that they'd one day end up admitting that they felt the same way all along, although more often than not, that didn't turn out to be the case at all. Yet now, at this very moment, there was a certain fire in my heart that fueled that fantasy, and if what I had heard was any kind of indication, I was only a few good words away from letting Plutia know how I felt about her.

"Mo...?"

I heard a whisper. I jutted my head to the side and spotted the CPU in question laying peacefully on her side. The tiny head that poked up from under the covers was obscured by the messy bangs that fell over Plutia's face. She didn't look worried often, but anyone would shoot me an odd glance when I was tired. I didn't have the energy to act embarassed or surprised that she had woken up. I must have overestimated her tendency to sleep like a log when I was shuffling around earlier.

"You don't usually wake up this early." I pointed out. "Something wrong?"

"...I'm more worried about you." She said slowly. "Haven't you gotten any sleep?"

"Not really. It's just been a long day, I suppose."

She wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I told her that she was the reason I couldn't get to sleep. Not that I was lying to begin with, anyway. Having to move around so much these past couple of days hasn't been healthy for my sleep cycle. I'd gone from taking regular naps under a tree in Planeptune to Nation-Hopping and sleeping in different bedrooms every day.

"...Is it because of what we talked about earlier?"

Nevermind, then. The cat was out of the bag.

"Yeah." I replied. "I've been thinking about it."

Maybe this was my chance, after all. Up until this point, I always had this idea in my head that we'd sort everything out on the perfect day, on a grassy field overlooking Planeptune covered in dandelions, and we'd both talk about it and stare towards the sky like in the movies. Rather, our intervention came in the early morning when the sun was still rising, in a bed in a room and in a completely different Nation. Although, considering Plutia's sleep cycle, it was only natural to assume it'd happen like that. I mulled my next words over in my head a few times, trying to find the perfect phrase that would get my feelings across. However, not matter how hard I tried, I couldn't think of anything to say that I could reasonably predict Plutia's response to. What would she do if I just admitted it right now? If I just said that I had liked her for some time now? Would she be happy? Embarassed? Angry? It was impossible to gauge, and my lack of sleep wasn't making it any easier.

"It feels like such a strange thing to talk about." I said.

"You said you've never had a girlfriend before, Mo..."

"I never really had the time for one." I replied. "Although I suppose I've got plenty of that now."

"...Sorry for saying weird stuff." She apologised. "I was just sleepy..."

"It's alright." I assured. "...Actually, it'd be better if I just got this off my chest now rather than later."

Maybe it wasn't that perfect moment that I needed. Maybe I was just pushing my expectations too far. All I needed was an opportunity where it'd be appropriate to talk about it. I always used to get mad at those old rom-coms that aired back when I was a kid. Especially when the two main character shared feelings mutually. It was always this elaborate affair, where the guy would go to such extreme lengths to plan these ridiculous situations that would make the heroine fall in love with him. It was such an unnecessary procedure. All he really needed was an opportunity to tell her how he felt.

Perhaps it was alright to do it now. I was just wasting time, otherwise.

"I've liked you for a while now, I think." I muttered. "Maybe I've just been afraid of admitting it until now."

What good would come from me refusing to admit my feelings? Keeping them bottled up wasn't going to help me.

Like I said, it was tough to gauge how Plutia would react. It would have been nice to see her act all flustered and confused that I'd admit it so suddenly, but I suppose that just wasn't her style. She remained quiet for a few seconds, before sighing heavily and digging her face into the pillow. Even in the darkness of the room, and her attempt to hide it, she had a thick, crimson streak running straight across her face, which grew redder as every second passed. The atmosphere stayed like that for a while. A few minutes, probably. During that time, we were both left to nothing but our thoughts, and I could only sit and stare at the ceiling as I wondered what thoughts could have been running through that strange mind of hers. Eventually, though, she lifted her head from the pillow, enough to twist it to the side towards me, before promptly hiding half of her face back in the remarkably soft bundle of feathers.

"It feels nice, to finally say it out loud." I continued. "To be honest, I was a little worried thinking about how you'd react."

I was expecting to feel embarassed. Anxious, even. This was my only chance, after all. There was no 'coming back' from a rebuttal. But, instead of that, I just felt happy knowing that I had worked up the guts to finally say it. Leaving it in my mind to fester wasn't going to make what I said any more impressive. I knew that with time, I'd only fall further and further in love with Plutia, and that would make saying it out loud that much harder, knowing that I could end up just embarassing us both in the end. I thought that these few seconds of silence would send me into a fit. After all, I couldn't tell what Plutia was thinking. Was she quiet just out of embarassment, or was she trying to think of a way to turn me down without sounding too brash? Rightfully, it should feel horrible having to wonder about something like that, but instead, I felt proud of myself for having expressed my feelings in the first place. Whether this turned out the way I wanted it to or not, we would still be together at the end of the day. And, ultimately, that's all I really wanted.

"...You're so bold, Mo..." Plutia whispered. "I would never be able to say something like that..."

"Well, it's no good keeping my feelings all bottled up." I replied. "Though I can understand why you wouldn't feel the same way."

I went to sit upright on the bed, but as soon as I did, I felt something soft press up against my side. I moved my head slightly to avoid getting a mouthful of Plutia's messy hair as she threw her arms around my waist and nudged her face against my shoulder. How many times had this happened before? How many times had I made the slightest movement, only for Plutia to stop me dead in my tracks? Though previously, it had that sort of cute friend-ish appeal that made me disregard it as just another of Plutia's strange habits. This time around, it felt closer. More intimate.

A few seconds later, I heard a sniffle. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but I heard another a few seconds later, this time followed by shortened breaths.

"Oh dear..." I muttered. "You're not crying, are you?"

For the first time, I forced Plutia away from me. I placed a hand on her shoulder and pushed her away gently, to get a good look at her face. She sniffled a few more times, knowing full-well that I'd see no matter what she did. Even in the darkness, I could spot that her eyes were red and puffy, and that a few stray tears had begun to run down her face. It was such a strange sight. Up until now, I had seen Plutia as this perpetually happy person who could never stop smiling even if she wanted to. To see her in such a state, no matter what caused it, was rather strange. I lifted a hand and brushed away the tears that ran down her cheeks.

"Mo..." She whispered between sniffles. "...Do you really feel that way?"

"Yeah." I replied truthfully. "I wouldn't lie about something like that."

It was such an odd feeling, this awful mixture of relief and worry stirring about in my stomach. I'd told her how I felt, sure, but what that really the right thing to do? Being able to say it so suddenly was gratifying, but there was always a disconnect between people with one-sided feelings. Could I really just keep being her friend if she isn't interested in me? All of our daily interactions would have that horrible, underlaying awkwardness that would never really go away. I'd never had a crush before, so the concept of love was a little foreign to me, but even through that, I knew that my feelings for Plutia had gone far beyond just being friends.

She hugged me again. Usually, she'd throw her arms forward and hook them around my waist, before pushing her face straight into my chest. She'd do it with such gusto and speed that I wouldn't have any time to react. This time, though, I watched carefully as she brought her arms up slowly and wrapped them firmly around my neck. She sniffled once more as she brought her head to rest just below my chin. She pulled herself right next to me, pressing her body up against mine. We were there for a few minutes, at least. The time just seemed to melt away. After a while, her sniffling and sharp breaths began to calm down.

"...Hey, Mo." She said softly. "What is it about me that you like?"

"Everything." I replied. "You're perfect."

"Hehe..." She giggled.

She loosened her grip, and turned her head up to face me. She wore the same bright, optimistic smile she always did. Our faces were so close together, I could feel even the slightest breath from her. Her piercing, uncharacteristic eyes stared straight into mine without a hint of any regret or discomfort. She was shorter than me, so her arms were spread quite far to wrap around my neck. I held her from behind gently to make sure that she didn't lose her grip. We spent even longer like that. I was expecting one of us to break eye contact any second, too embarassed to continue, but the moment never seemed to come.

"Just staring at each other like this..." I muttered. "We're idiots, aren't we?"

"It's Mo's fault for not coming any closer..."

That was it, then. The green flag I was waiting for.

Having time to contemplate it was just going to cause more problems. I tightened my arms around Plutia and slowly moved my head forward. I'd never kissed anyone before, so doing it quickly left me with less time to get all worried about it. I'd read books about how your first kiss was supposed to set off this spark of romance and that it'd be the best feeling in the world. In reality, though, it was a lot simpler than that. It was more of this deep, lingering satisfaction that'd stay with you for a while after you were done. Plutia's lips were soft, but I suppose that was true for anyone, really. Her diminutive frame made me afraid of being too forceful, although I could hardly take an educated guess at what a forceful kiss entailed. Three seconds, I think was how long I held it for before pulling my head back. I could feel from the heat on my face that I was lighting up like a christmas tree, but the same was also true for Plutia, who slowly opened her eyes a few seconds after the exchange was finished. She started to smile, but her lips remained pursed, as if she was afraid of losing the kiss. After that, I heard her mumble something inaudible under her breath.

"What was that?" I asked.

"...Another one..." She muttered, louder this time.

"You're being greedy."

This time, she was the one to move her head forward and close the gap. I couldn't have stopped her even if I wanted to. We held the kiss for a few seconds longer that time, starting to get used to how abrasive we could get with one-another. She pulled away and smiled brightly at me before pressing her head below my chin again. It was such a strange relief, to finally sit down and spend time with the one you loved. There was a sort of warmness rising up from within me that I'd never quite felt before.

"...I like you too, Mo." She said quietly. "I don't think I realised it until now."

"Is that so...?" I replied. "What is it about me that you like?"

She took a few seconds to respond.

"Everything." She repeated, tightening her hug. "...You're perfect."

"I'm far from perfect. There are a lot of things that I'm not good at."

"...That's a horrible thing to say." She said. "You're perfect to me."

Maybe that was all I wanted to hear. Who was I, deep down? Someone who had never been exceptionally good at anything in his life. Granted, I found my way through school easily enough, but there was still so much for me to learn when I left. There was nothing I could specialise in. Nothing that I could say I was unquestionably great at. During my time scouring Planeptune for jobs, I had found out that there was nothing I was terrible at, either. There were a large number of occupations that I was qualified to work as, but I'd never have that burning passion for any of them. I'd never experience that spark of brilliance or happiness that told me that this is what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. Maybe Plutia could break that thought process. Not once have I ever felt unfulfilled by being around her, or bored when I talked to her. There was no lingering sense of doubt in my mind when I decided that I loved her, and no hint of regret when I kissed her. All I wanted to do was spend the rest of my life with her.

"Hey, Plutia..." I muttered. "Why did you drag me all the way back to the Sanctuary, when we met?"

"Uhm..." She pondered. "I'm not sure. I just had a good feeling about you, Mo."

"You shouldn't rely on your instincts too much." I scolded.

"But it was a good decision, right?" She replied. "Otherwise we wouldn't be talking right now."

It was strange to think that if I had been anywhere else on that day, me and Plutia would have never met. We would have passed each other by, and I would probably be somewhere else in Planeptune right now. Maybe that's why people like to believe that some of us are simply tied together by fate, destined to cross paths at one point.

Plutia tightened her grip.

"...You usually stop hugging me after a few seconds."

"We're together now." She replied. "So I don't have to let go anymore..."

"...You're really sure about this?" I asked. "You don't have to force yourself just to make me happy."

She pursed her lips annoyingly.

"I'm not forcing myself." She raised her head and stared up at me longingly. "...I really like you, Mo."

"Haha..." I chuckled. "It'll feel like a dream if you keep going on like that."

I felt a slight tug, and before I could react, I was locked in another kiss. The feeling had gotten better. We were starting to understand the process bit by bit.

She pulled away and smiled at me.

"Better now...?" She said slowly.

"Yeah..." I replied. "Definitely not a dream."

Perhaps I used to wander Planeptune for some kind of meaning. There wasn't anything I was particularly interested in specialising in, unlike my brother. Moving from job to job was just my own way of searching for what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. I was certain that, by experiencing everything the city had to offer, I'd eventually find the empty socket in the machine of society that I'd fit into. Ultimately, nothing had changed since then, but with this, I'd taken a step in the right direction, at least.

"You look like you're thinking about something, Mo..."

"I am." I replied. "It's nothing too important, so don't worry."

It didn't matter. All that mattered right now was the time I spent with Plutia. I could worry about my future some other day.

"So..." She began. "What do we do now that we're together?"

"No clue." I replied. "More of the same, I suppose."

It really didn't change much of our outwardly interactions with one-another. Plutia already spent most of her time clinging to me, which probably wasn't going to change, and our overly casual way of speaking didn't leave much room for improvement, either. It was beginning to become quite apparent why everyone had their suspicions about the state of the relationship between me and Plutia. I found it quite odd that so many people could get the wrong idea, but from how things were now, it was almost impossible not to imagine that we were already in a relationship. Kissing was the only difference I could pull off the top of my head, but even then, it's not particularly polite to do that in public.

"We honestly haven't changed that much, have we?" I lamented.

"Guess not..." She related. "Maybe that just means we were in love from the start."

"That'd explain why you kidnapped me." I said. "Although, it sounds a lot creepier if you say it like that."

"Well, I did say that I had a good feeling about you..."

"I thought you could just relate to the fact that I was lazy?"

"That too..." She muttered. "But it sounds more romantic if you say that I had a crush on you from the start."

"Did you?"

"Maybe..." She replied. "You're not terrible-looking, Mo."

"You're just saying that."

I stared towards the clock on the wall. It was still early in the morning.

"I'd be alright with just talking like this until the sun comes up." I said. "But we'll look terrible in the morning if we don't get any sleep."

"Yeah..."

She tightened her grip.

"But..." She muttered. "I don't have to let you go, this time."

"I suppose not."

I put my head back down on the pillow, and shuffled over as Plutia laid sideways and did the same. The pillow was small, so her face was only a few inches from mine. We made eye contact, and she beamed that half-baked smile of hers that she always pulled whenever she was happy. I couldn't stop myself from smiling back. It was such a strange feeling, to be so close to someone. We were both embarassed by it, but maybe that was just the best way to experience a relationship. Clumsily attempting to act romantic and lovey-dovey towards each other was just a part of the whole process. In reality, though, I loved that embarassed side of her. There wasn't much I didn't love about her, to be perfectly honest.

"Hey, Mo..." She whispered. "...Do you love me?"

Love was a strong word. Having a crush on someone was all well and good, but it was a different feeling from full-blown love. It's the kind of word you only say to someone that you truly want to spend the rest of your days with. Being able to turn to someone everyday and say 'I love you' to them wasn't just something you'd say to butter them up. It was just that. A declaration of love. Not just interest or fleeting feelings, but actual love. Whenever I thought of it, I imagined the type of person who believed in love at first sight and soulmates. It made me wonder if fate really did just bring us together. That if I had never slept underneath that tree in the first place, perhaps me and Plutia would have inevitably met at some point, bound by that little red string that keeps soulmates tied together. Or maybe love really was decided in the heat of things. If Plutia hadn't let her interest in me slip out, we would have never had this conversation. I would have kept looking for that perfect moment to finally admit my feelings. It took me until now to realise that 'the perfect moment' wasn't what I needed at all. All I really needed was that last final push to send me over the edge. A little nudge that encouraged me to say what I was feeling for once.

Or, maybe I had no idea how love worked, and I was just searching for a reason to use the word out loud. Maybe I'd have to admit it without being nudged, for once.

"Yeah." I replied. "I do."

"...Say it..." She muttered, her face darkening to a thick crimson.

I smiled again. There was a flutter in my heart. Or, at least, that's the best way I could describe it. I suppose that's why people called it butterflies.

"I love you, Plutia."

Something clicked inside me, and I realised that I had wanted to say those words for quite a while now.


	13. Chapter 13

"Morning, sleepyhead."

"...Mornin'."

The room wasn't dark for once. As a matter of fact, it was starting to get rather bright. I craned my head sideways to spot the clock at the far end of the room. 12:30, it read, or something akin to that. My vision wasn't fantastic after having just woken up. Before everything else, though, I muttered a quick greeting to the person who lay just a few inches away from me, her half-lidded eyes glazing over every detail in front of them as she struggled to keep herself from falling back asleep. I was all for spending the entire day in bed, but my chronic laziness wasn't anywhere near as debilitating as Plutia's, so I took the time to shuffle away from my pillow towards the edge of the bed. My feet hit the ground wobbily as I drew my arms back into a yawn.

I smiled a little. There was something different about this particular moment. It wasn't just that strange, refreshing feeling you got from a good night's sleep, but something much deeper. With every breath, and with every passing second, I slowly began to remember more and more of last night, and the smile on my face continued to grow. I had a noticeable spring in my step as I walked to the other end of the room and poked my head through the green-tinted curtains shrouding the window, wincing as the sun came down onto Leanbox's blaring cityscape. We were high up, for sure. Every building looked like a model house from such a height. There were such large spaces between people's homes, and the city was covered in a ridiculous amount of greenery. It was a refreshing break from Planeptune's rapid industrialisation and parks which were dotted sparsely around an all-encompassing sea of technology and skyscrapers.

I'd been everywhere now, I had just realised. Leanbox and Lowee were both crossed off my bucket list. I'd been to Lastation before, in one of the rare occassions where me and my brother actually met face-to-face for once. It was similar to Planeptune, but the people there had a tendency to overwork themselves as per the nation's remit. Noire was adament that hard work and overtime was the key to technological superiority over the other nations. She's not wrong, I suppose, and if the newspapers were anything to go by, then it wasn't going to be long before Lastation overtook Planeptune in produced goods. With that all being said, the fact that Planeptune remains so far ahead in terms of technology is something I'd never quite understand, seeing as its CPU was anything but hardworking.

Something wrapped itself around my fingers, and I looked to my left to see the tired, ever-so-slightly stumbling form of Plutia staring out the window with me, her fingers intertwined lazily around mine. Her hands were tiny and soft, like fabric. Mine were creased heavily and rough. I couldn't quite find the words to describe it, but I felt strangely inclined to keep my grip weak. Her skin looked as though it'd rip like paper if you put the slightest amount pressure on it. In reality, it was probably the exact opposite. The CPUs were tremendously strong. Although it might have looked that way from my point of view, Plutia was probably the one worried about crushing my hand.

"You're pretty bold, just grabbing my hand out of nowhere like that."

"Can't I...?"

"Of course you can." I replied. "It's just a little strange. You're never usually so forward."

"...I figured, because Mo was so bold last night, I should be too." She explained. "...Right?"

"Go at your own pace. There's no rush." I said. "I'm happy enough just being with you."

There was a certain flow to our conversations now. It was that strange sense of freedom that developed after you started getting close to someone. All of a sudden, there's such a wide variety of things you can say to each other. It's strangely overwhelming, finding out what goes in conversation and what doesn't, especially with someone you love. It was that awkwardness you felt when you said something cheesy or romantic that made you feel as thought you were trying to muster the confidence that you just didn't have to begin with. But, after a while, you realise that all you've got to do is keep them happy. Say things that'll make them blush and shy away their heads in embarassment. I'd done it in the past already, so it didn't feel weird anymore saying silly things like that.

"Are we going to tell everyone about this, then?" I asked. "Or will we just let them figure it out for themselves?"

"...I'm sure they'll find out, eventually."

"Although, to be honest, I think everyone thought we were together to begin with..."

"Well, it doesn't matter..." She replied. "If they find out, they find out."

"All things considered, we were already pretty close before last night." I pointed out. "I suppose it'll just be more of the same from here on out, huh?"

"Yup." She agreed. "...Except with more kissing..."

"That too."

I had almost forgotten about that. Late-night confessions were all well and good, but remembering what actually happened was another story. I kissed Plutia last night. Twice, if I remembered correctly. It wasn't anything like what it looked like in the movies. It felt slow and awkward. Although, I suppose that was what to expect from two completely inexperienced people kissing each other for the first time. That didn't stop my heart from flaring up and tingles of excitement from running through my body, though. That was something the movies never really went into. I sort of understood why people said that it felt magical to kiss someone you loved now that I'd experienced it firsthand.

It was something that I was going to have to get used to. I realised that as I craned my head away from the window to face Plutia, and flinching as she moved herself closer to me and tightened her grip. I wasn't tremendously tall by any stretch of the imagination, but she still had to stand on her toes to bring her face closer to mine. It still felt a little strange, kissing someone, but I didn't hesitate when she moved forward and pressed her lips against mine. It was a short one, this time. She closed her eyes and smiled at me when we pulled away.

"I love you, Mo."

I'd never get used to that. Kissing and hugging and all that good stuff was fine by me, but actually having someone casually express unconditional love for you was a bit too much for me to handle. It was my tiredness, I imagine, that let me spurt out those words so easily to Plutia that night. I smiled back and tried to say it without sounding like an idiot.

"I love you too."

I would have given anything in the world to have spent all day in that room, just talking with Plutia endlessly, but we couldn't just take advantage of Lady Green Heart's hospitality like that.

"I'll go get Lady Green Heart and tell her we're ready to leave."

* * *

Leanbox's Sanctuary was a maze if you didn't know where you were going. I spent a good fifteen minutes trying to hunt down Lady Green Heart's room. Retracing my steps only seemed to get me more lost, which was strange, seeing as the Sanctuary's top floor consisted of one corridor and nothing else. I asked a few people I ran into along the way for help, and they managed to point me in the right direction. A few minutes later, I found myself knocking on Lady Green Heart's door. She took a fair amount of time to make her way to the door, and when she finally opened it, I could see the outlines of bags appearing underneath her eyes. She looked annoyed for a few seconds as she rubbed her eyes lazily.

"Oh, Modem. Good morning." She greeted. "You slept well, I hope?"

"I did. Doesn't look like you had the best night, though."

"Oh no, no." She replied. "Four Goddesses Online just received a new update, so I was up all night learning the new raids and whatnot."

The opulent CPU of Lowee played MMOs all the way to the endgame. You learn something new every day.

"Did something happen, Modem?" She questioned. "You're positively beaming."

"Managed to get my feelings out last night."

"Oh dear, oh dear. What bravery." She commended. "And what was her response?"

"We're together now."

She smiled at me.

"How lovely. I'm glad I could give you a push in the right direction."

"You're handling this a lot better than I thought you would." I pointed out. "From what you said yesterday, I was expecting you to be ecstatic."

"Oh, believe me, I will be." She replied. "I'll come to my senses after I properly wake up."

"So what's the plan for getting us back to Planeptune?"

"You can leave at any time." She said. "Just give me the word, and I'll have everything prepared within half an hour."

"Sounds good." I replied. "We'll be at the entrance by that time, then."

"Fantastic." She proclaimed. "Oh, and Modem?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you." She said. "Nothing brightens my day more than seeing my fellow CPUs happy. I'm sure Plutia's over the moon."

* * *

Sure enough, in half an hour, Lady Green Heart was waiting patiently in the Sanctuary's lobby for us. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Plutia smiling from ear-to-ear as she shamelessly wrapped herself around my arm. Her subsequent outburst did a good job of alerting everyone in the room to the fact that the CPU of Planeptune was fawning over some random civilian. Lady Green Heart clapped her hands together excitedly and giggled as we approached her. I was beet red from head to toe, obviously. It was a special kind of embarassment.

"My, my..." She muttered. "To think that of all the CPUs, Plutia would be the first to experience love..."

"Please, try and keep your voice down..." I replied. "It'd be problematic if so many people found out at once."

"Of course, of course. My lips are sealed."

Lady Green Heart escorted us out of the building. Leanbox's Sanctuary was unique in that the entrance connected directly to the streets, unlike Planeptune, which had a grand walkway that took the better part of five minutes to walk up. People walked past the building as if it wasn't even there. You'd be tossed out if you were caught skulking around Planeptune's Sanctuary. There was another car waiting for us on the side of the road, which I could have sworn was being driven by the exact same guard as last time.

"It's the same as when we came, then." I muttered. "It'll take a day for us to get back."

"I just wanna go home..." Plutia moaned from my side.

"I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time." Lady Green Heart apologised.

"Don't worry about it. It was nice seeing Leanbox for the first time."

"Plus, if you hadn't come, you would have never shown your true feelings for Plutia."

"Dunno about that." I replied. "I've been in love with her for a while, you know."

"Oh dear. It sounds like he's head over heels for you, Plutia."

"Hehe..." Plutia giggled, still clinging to my arm. "Hearing that makes me happy."

"To experience love..." Lady Green Heart mused, placing her hands on her cheeks. "Perhaps I should take in some handsome stranger as well."

"No, no, that sounds like a terrible idea..." I replied. "Only Plutia could get away with something like that."

It did sound a bit strange. Out of all four CPUs, the first one to experience anything even vaguely associated with romance was the one that, for all intents and purposes, spent most of her days sleeping and dozing off. The papers were going to have a field day when they inevitably stumble across Plutia acting all lovey-dovey with me in public. The three of us made some more small talk before saying our farewells. Me and Plutia piled into the car once more, and the driver whisked us away without missing a beat.

* * *

 _"Saw it coming, to be honest."_

"You're not surprised?"

 _"You kidding? I'm speechless. I can't even imagine being that close to a CPU."_

"It still doesn't feel real."

 _"So when are you gonna get in contact with Lady Black Heart and land me the once-in-a-lifetime chance of dating a CPU?"_

"I wasn't expecting things to turn out this way. Keep working hard and I'm sure she'll notice you one day."

 _"I'll hold you to that."_

On the way back home, I managed to score a conversation with my brother across the phone, something that happened very rarely, if at all. I kept my stories short, seeing as he'd probably feel undermined if I went on about how I travelled to Lowee and Leanbox over the course of a week. At one point, I offhandedly mentioned that me and Plutia were together, but he didn't seem to think much of it.

 _"You're on your way back, then."  
_

"Yeah. The boat will arrive tomorrow morning."

 _"It's getting late. You should really get some sleep."_

"What about you?"

 _"I'm used to staying up this late. It comes with the job."_

"Don't overwork yourself." I replied. "You'll only make Noire angry if you collapse."

 _"She stays up even later than I do."_ He said. _"Must be that CPU endurance of hers."_

"How would you know?"

 _"I spoke with her a few minutes before you called."_ He explained. _"Didn't even look tired."_

My brother was quite high up in Lastation's violently competitive job market. He was a few promotions away from being Noire's right-hand man. My brother and I weren't twins, so it was up in the air if she actually knew about us being siblings. He had a thing for her, if that wasn't immediately apparent, although as opposed to me and Plutia, he had held his crush ever since he moved into the industry. In retrospect, considering how hard he worked on a daily basis, it should have been him living out his perfect romance with a CPU instead of me.

 _"Speaking of which, it sounds like she's looking for me."_ He pointed out. _"I gotta go. Take care of yourself, Modem."_

"Yeah. You too."

And that was that. It had been a few months since we spoke so casually to each other. Most of our conversations happened through text messages. I often joked that with how much he worked, I'd probably never see him in the flesh ever again. It had been nearly three years since I said that, and it actually looked like it was going to be the case for a while. I dimmed the display on my phone and shoved it into my back pocket. It was pitch black in the room me and Plutia had been assigned. We were on a civilian vessel this time around, and it would have been rude to demand a first-class room from the people who had already reserved them, so we settled for an ordinary one. Granted, it only came with one bed, but Plutia seemed to view that as a positive thing.

"It's been a hectic day."

"Uh-huh..." She muttered. "I just wanna go home..."

"Yeah..." I replied. "...Hey, Plutia."

"Huh?"

"CPUs..." I began. "They don't age, do they?"

It was a commonly-known phenomemon. Once someone had become a CPU, they no longer seemed to change physically. While essentially granting them immortality, it was one of the reasons CPUs were generally rather finicky about who they decided to build relationships with. Friends and family would inevitably grow old and die while the CPUs stay the same age for as long as their reign lasted. Plutia wasn't the type of person to put any forethought into problems like that, but it did raise some issues with her long-term relationships.

"I know what you're thinking, Mo..." She replied. "But the CPU shift will probably happen in a few years..."

"CPU... shift?"

"You didn't know?" She inquired. "It's how a CPU stops being a CPU."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"It happens when the people start losing faith in their nation's CPU..." She explained. "After a lot of shares get lost, a new CPU gets chosen."

"Why would people ever lose faith in you?"

"Dunno..." She said. "Noire told me that it's inevitable..."

"So you'll stop being a CPU at some point?"

"Probably..."

It was a little strange to assume that CPUs just kept going until they died. It made sense that there was some kind of shifting process that got them replaced. People losing faith in them didn't sound like a particularly pleasant way of stepping down from their thrones, though. I understood how Plutia could start getting criticised, but CPUs like Noire had done nothing but good for their Nations. Was it really just something that rolled around every now and again?

"You'll be an ordinary girl after that..." I muttered.

"Yeah..." She replied. "...But that's alright."

A pair of arms wrapped around me and pulled me back down onto the bed.

"...Because we can still be together, can't we?"

Commitment.

That's something I'd never been for. Doing a task and sticking to it wasn't one of my strong points. I was more comfortable just taking things as they came, never once stopping to consider what I was going to do, or where I was going to end up. I didn't have any rainy-day plans for when things didn't turn out the way I wanted them to, or a clue of how I was going to support myself when my body became too weak to carry. In a sense, I had never been truly commited to anything in my life. Until now, of course. Yesterday broke that streak. I didn't just feel obligated to stay with Plutia because we had been together for so long. I did it because I had found someone that I couldn't possibly let go of. Someone that I would voluntarily stay around with all day if given the chance. If what Plutia said was true, and one day, she'd stop being a CPU, then we'd just be ordinary people. I had savings. Money that I promised myself I'd never use until I found something I truly wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. We could buy a house in Planeptune, and spend the rest of our days lounging around and taking walks, and experiencing that strangely picturesque dream of a perfect romance.

"Yeah." I replied. "Of course."

* * *

"Home sweet home..."

Plutia threw herself on the bed as soon as we came through the door.

"Histoire will scold you if you start napping." I reminded. "Try to keep yourself awake until tonight, at least."

"That's not fair, Mo..." She moaned. "You're supposed to spoil me..."

"I'll spoil you once we get settled back in."

"You two are awfully loud for having just returned." A quiet, motherly voice interrupted.

Histoire was hot on our trail from the moment we set foot in the Sanctuary. Her petite form levitated smoothly through the doorway, having just finished running us through a gauntlet of questions about what we had gotten up to during our short vacation. I neglected to inform her of the quite important fact that me and Plutia had spent some time relaying mutual romantic interest in one-another. Plutia, the little scamp that she was, knew perfectly well that Histoire could give her little more than a telling off for associating with someone as lazy and uninspiring as me, but she could do far worse to a mere human like myself. Keeping the whole thing under wraps wasn't easy, though. Plutia had spent most of her time clinging to me since we got off the boat. More than she usually did, anyway, and I was starting to fear that Histoire was beginning to get a little suspicious.

"Although I have to say, Plutia, don't you think you're ever-so-slightly infringing on Modem's personal space sometimes?"

"...Mo's alright with it, though..."

"Well, yes, but..." She muttered. "I'm beginning to worry that, if you continue doing that sort of thing in public, people will get the wrong impression..."

"Whatever do you mean, Lady Histoire?" I asked.

"W-Well... uhm..." She stuttered. "They might begin to think that you two are... 'involved', so to speak..."

"Nothing wrong with that." I replied. "Plutia's pretty cute."

"M-Modem!" She exclaimed. "How can you discuss such things with Plutia still in the room?"

"I guess it's not very polite to exclude her from the conversation." I said. "Hey, Plutia?"

"Huh...?"

"Hypothetically, if I suddenly professed my love to you or something, would you accept my feelings?"

"Yeah..."

"Alright." I replied. "Wanna go out with me?"

"Okay..."

"That's that, then." I finalised. "Now it's perfectly fine for her to hug me in public and whatnot."

You know when you intentionally tell someone a bad joke, and they look at you for confirmation if you're actually being serious with it or not? They kind of pull this face to begin with that shows just how disappointed they are in you for wasting their time. Histoire sort of looked at me like that, except it was as if I had missed the punchline entirely, so there was this lingering expectation on her face, as if she expected me to throw my arms out and start blushing, saying things like 'oh man, I wasn't being serious, you know. That was actually pretty embarassing' or something. But it never came. She stayed like that for a while, and I was starting to worry that maybe I'd popped a fuse in that intricate little fairy computer brain of hers.

"Y-You..." She blurted out. "H-How can you two decide something as serious as that so casually!?"

"That's just the way the cookie crumbles, I suppose."

"What is that supposed to mean!?"

She craned her head to the side impossibly fast.

"P-Plutia!" She yelled, as composed as possible. "You can't possibly be serious!?"

"Huh...?" Plutia muttered, as if she hadn't been listening. "But I love Mo..."

"W-Wha...?" She recoiled in shock, darting back to me. "W-What have you done to her!?"

"That's actually a pretty hurtful thing to say..."

She raised her hands in front of her, grasping towards me as if to make some kind of choking threat, despite the physical impossibility of something like that ever happening. A few seconds passed, and she calmly balled her hands into fists and lowered her head. She closed her eyes, as if she were deeply concentrating on something, before looking up and staring at me with a perplexed expression.

"I'm missing something, aren't I?"

And that's how Histoire found out about me and Plutia. Truth me told, she took it a lot better than I thought she would have. Almost in the same way that you'd feel awkward or nervous speaking to your girlfriend's parents for the first time. Recounting the steps we took up to that point, it really did seem as though we should have been going out a long time ago. After me and Plutia were done explaining everything, Histoire slumped down in her little book and sighed heavily. She looked exhausted.

"So that's how it is..." She muttered.

"You're not mad?"

"Of course not." She replied. "I'm ecstatic that Plutia has found happiness in someone like you."

"Isn't it strange?" I asked. "I've never heard of a CPU being in a relationship before."

"It has happened." She answered. "It's quite rare, but the CPUs are still human, so it's to be expected that such things can happen."

"Should we tell the others, then?"

"It's not strictly necessary." She explained. "Love is a private affair."

"I see..."

"I understand that I can be somewhat stern at times, but I do care for Plutia's well-being." She continued. "Please, Modem. Take care of her."

"...Yeah. You've got my word."

She smiled.

"Thank you." She said. "...I will take my leave. I'm sure you two would like to be alone."

"No CPU duties to take care of?"

"...It's important to relax some days, Modem."

And with that, she levitated back towards the door and let herself out, leaving us alone. I smirked and drew my hands behind my head.

"She's alright, that Histoire." I remarked. "Didn't expect that to go anywhere near as smoothly as it did."

I turned around, and saw that Plutia had her face firmly planted into the pillows. I walked over and gently pried the gap between her face and the bed. She had a thick blush running from one end of her face to the next. She was wearing that curiously rare expression where she'd frown lazily and avoid eye contact.

"Come on, now. Can't be that embarassing telling someone about us, can it?"

"It's not that..." She muttered.

Stretch both arms, lurch forward, and catch yourself around someone's waist. That seemed to be the formula Plutia followed whenever she felt that she needed a hug. It was such a natural occurance, and I'd gotten used to catching her small frame in my arms to prevent her from falling down. She still felt like an oversized doll. Tremendously light and delicate-looking, although all things considered, she was obviously a lot stronger than I was.

"...You promised that you'd take care of me..."

"Of course I did." I replied. "What makes you think I wouldn't say that?"

"...Mo's always such a quiet person..." She continued. "You never talk much, so it's hard to know what you want."

She clung to me a little harder.

"That's why..."

Her voice began to quiver. I was about to ask her what was wrong, but she lifted her head up from my chest before I could open my mouth to say anything. There were a few tears welling up in her eyes.

"Hearing something like that..." She said slowly. "...Makes me really happy..."

During the early days of a relationship, I think it's natural to think to yourself that maybe you're not with the right person, and maybe there's someone better than them waiting for you somewhere. Or, perhaps that's just wishful thinking. In fact, I was sure that it was only wishful thinking. I racked my brain for a moment, searching for that perfect person who I'd have no trouble spending the rest of my life with at the drop of a hat. But, no matter how hard I tried, I kept following the same threads. Laid-back, cute, a brilliant smile. I couldn't think of a single thing about Plutia that I disliked. Even when faced with every other person in Gamindustri, there was no-one I'd rather spend time with than her. Hearing her say that she was happy was the greatest feeling in the world. No adrenaline rush or stroke of happiness I'd ever experienced could top it.

I smiled at her.

"...Just ask, Plutia." I said. "I'll say it however many times you want me to."


End file.
